Nothing but Trouble
by jennaravenrose
Summary: What started as a simple mission gets more complicated by the day as the team tries to not only unravel Mac's new mystery girl but also complete the mission without leaving Mac with a broken heart.
1. Chapter 1

Nothing but trouble

5 years ago, upstate New York

Finally, it took her five years but she did it. Her formula was finally ready for live testing. She finished typing the program coding into the system, hit send and waited for the selected batch to acknowledge the transmission. She loaded the test batch into a chilled syringe.

"test subject 321, injuries: two crushed vertebrae and a noticeable cancerous tumor on the right side of the neck. Administering the first dose at 2:25 pm" Jen said to the camera. She picked up the lab rat, who squeaked weakly in protest and injected the dose into the animal. She set it back in the cage and watched it. It twitched at first, squeaked again and then whimpered while she watched it. Her lab assistant Mike was monitoring the creature's vitals.

Then before her eyes, the lesion started disappearing and suddenly the rat was running around the cage. "Oh, please say you got that on tape," said Jen "Oh yeah, all of it baby. Woo! Hoo! It works, it bloody works!" said Mike. "Vitals?" said Jen "Heart rate normal, blood pressure everything is perfect," said Mike

She was practically bouncing when she reported to their supervisor that her formula was ready for human test subjects.

Two weeks later, she received a letter stating that the project was being scrapped. She was stunned she had dedicated her life to this project. They recruited her in high school for this, funded her college education and guaranteed her a job afterward. This was everything they had asked for, why were they abandoning it? It represented a truly working cure for cancer and from her test results quite a few other things as well.

To say she was hurt was an understatement, then when Mike was mysteriously transferred without even saying goodbye she became worried. Out of some misgivings, that he was even still working for the company or even alive. She quickly made backups of all her notes, feigned like she had given in and scrapped the project. Even going so far as to sneak a sample out of the building, in her person, because the security in the building would have allowed no other transport method.

Fully intending to take it to their competitor, or at the very least telling a major news network, that the pharmaceutical company she worked for wanted to hide a cure for cancer rather than use it in place of their current chemotherapy.

She must have given something away, because the next day she received a pink slip, and a reminder from human resources legal department, that she signed a non compete clause in her contract. Which they enforced by blocking any job offer in any science-based field.

So she went out and got a waitressing job at the local diner instead, and tried to ignore the fact they had dashed her hopes and dreams of making a difference in the world. A few times at the diner, she was certain she had seen someone watching her from a black car parked across the street.

While she was at work one night someone broke into her flat and trashed her place, so she went and stayed the night at her parent's house. The next morning her car wouldn't start, so her family offered her a ride to work, they were intending to drop her off at work on the way to church, but someone sideswiped them on the road and they crashed into a tree.

She woke up in the morgue only to find her family laid out on the slabs next to her. She stumbled out of the room in dazed shock wearing only a lab coat that had been on the hook by the door, found her way into a coma patients room and stole their clothes, some money out of their purse and their driver's license. Then calmly walked out of the hospital wearing their things.

She jumped on the first bus that came close to the hospital and took it home to her apartment. Went inside through a window she knew had a faulty latch, packed a bag, lifted a floorboard she was using as a secret stash. She dug out some emergency cash, and a jump drive with her formula on it then left, certain she was fleeing for her life.

Once again, she used the bus to take her to a train station, and paid for a one-way ticket, she bought some leather gloves at the gift shop, because it was cold outside and she didn't want to leave any fingerprints. She had recognized the man that had run them off the road, and he had worked as security for her old employer. They had tried to kill her, and if it wasn't for her formula they would have succeeded. Ruining her life and career apparently wasn't enough they weren't trying to just bury her formula, they were trying to bury her.

She got off the train somewhere in Kansas and stole a car from the side of the road with a for sale sign on it. The vehicle made it all the way to Las Vegas before breaking down. She left it where it stopped, grabbed her stuff and paid for a room in one of those hotels frequented by hookers.

She was running out of money and needed to find a job that would pay ended up calling one of those places that pay for junked cars and had the car towed to their yard. They gave her a small amount of cash, minus the towing fee and thankfully didn't run the plates or really ask for much in the way of ID.

Present day, Los Angeles

She rounded the bend and passed a skinny blond with headphones in, then went around the man with the dog before he could trip her. There was a guy just ahead of her wearing a gray sweatshirt that said MIT, she started to go around him by pushing off a rock with a bit of parkour, unfortunately, the dog from earlier broke free, and careened into both of them in its bid for freedom.

The harried owner was chasing after it with a shout, as she felt herself falling. The tumble was abruptly averted by the man in the MIT sweatshirt as he caught her. "Are you okay?" said the nerd. She nodded, dumbstruck, nerd boy was hot. He lifted her back on her feet and smirked at her dumbfounded look.

She nodded in response. "Are you sure?" said the nerd. Feeling embarrassed by her lack of response and manners, she stammered a quick apology. "I am so sorry... I ..didn't..the dog" said Jen

During this time the dog owner came back with his animal in tow and started apologizing to them both. "Sorry beautiful, he just gets away from me sometimes," said the dog owner. When the guy in the MIT shirt started reassuring the man, Jen used the opportunity to slink away and resume her jog.

"Hey wait up, wow you're fast," said the nerd She jumped with a start because she was unused to anyone being able to keep up with her. Since the accident, actually, since she injected the formula really, her stamina, strength and hand-eye coordination seemed to have doubled.

That and she had also lost a substantial amount of weight since moving to LA. She went from lumpy and frumpy to Victoria secret model hot, it even got rid of the excess skin flab, another change she attributed to the formula. She hardly recognized herself now, so hopefully, anyone still looking for her wouldn't either.

She had worked a few odd jobs as she crossed the country just so the money didn't run out, only using the stolen id when she had to and working under the table, so she didn't have to give anyone her social security number. She wasn't sure they would believe she was dead without a body to confirm it, so they might have people checking for its use.

When she reached Las Vegas, she made a friend out of one of the local tattoo artists, while working for one of the local drug dealers, and he apprenticed her in the tattoo trade after he realized she could draw. She moved in with him for a while just to avoid having her credit ran.

She stayed there for two years and then moved with her mentor when he opened a new shop in Los Angeles, which is where she was currently working. She earned a reputation for being one of their best artists and the nickname of Zee when one of her clients actually fell asleep while she was doing a back piece.

She was currently living with their body piercer Kailey, after her and her boss John, mutually agreed they didn't work as a couple and were better off as friends. Since the incident, she had become a bit more introverted than she had been before, out of a sense of wariness.

She didn't use social media or email and the only phone she had was a cheap prepaid flip phone. She also didn't drive or have a license. She cashed her checks at a check cashing store, under a false identity formerly belonging to a long-dead teenager that a former drug-dealing boss helped provide,her boss John believed it to be her real name, as did the accountant that did her taxes, she even had a social security number attached to the same name.

She used cash everywhere she could and when she couldn't, she loaded it onto a prepaid credit card and used a friends email or computer. Anything to stay under the radar of anyone that might be still looking. She also kept her possessions to a minimum, so if she had to run she could without being hampered by things.

She still kept an eye out for anyone that looked like they worked for the company. Her living space and work had weapons hidden everywhere. While she was in Las Vegas she took a few martial arts classes, because she was finally in the shape to do so.

She bought a gun off one of her drug dealing friends and learned to use it as well as an assortment of bladed weapons, fully intending to defend herself if any of them came a knocking.

Nerd boy said something to her but she couldn't hear him with her headphones pulled one out, and turned towards the man because he looked a little too hopeful for her liking.

"Is there something you require?" said Jen He nervously licked his lips "Actually I was just wondering if I could buy you breakfast, or something to make up for that, I don't usually hug strange women and…I just…I'm Mac by the way" said the man

"It's fine I'm not offended, but I will have to decline, I have work after I am done here," said Jen She started to step away from the man and he stepped into her path. Her hand went to the pepper spray in her pocket in reflex.

"Okay, ah how about lunch we can meet up somewhere, where do you work?" said Mac She thought about it for a few moments. He didn't look threatening, in fact, he looked positively non -threatening and genuine. She sighed and decided what the hell, it was only lunch.

"Hart and soul tattoo and body piercing on Vine, now if you don't mind I really need to finish my run," said Jen "Ah okay I could run with you...ah. I didn't get your name" said Mac "Zee and suit yourself" said Jen

She turned back to the trail and resumed her run. About halfway to the end, the man had stopped to catch his breath with a stitch in his side, while she continued on.

"All right then, I guess I'll see you later," said Mac, to her retreating back. After she was out of eyesight, Jack came up to his side dog firmly in tow. "Wow, not very friendly is she?" said Jack Mac chuckled. "She's just wary of strangers, not necessarily a bad thing in L.A.," said Mac "You gonna try and follow her?" said Jack "Naw, she's too fast, the girl must have been a track star or something," said Mac

Twenty four hours earlier, Phoenix Foundation

They were all sitting around the table waiting for Matti to begin. Riley was tapping the table as though she would rather be tapping keys. Jack was leaning back in his chair, while Mac was busy turning a small pile of paperclips into various shapes.

Matti walked in and the lights dimmed. She tapped the screen on the wall and a guy's picture appeared on the screen. "This is Raoul Mendoza, he runs an arms empire here in Los Angeles and Las Vegas supplying the local thugs with hardware," said Matti "Then how come the feds haven't nabbed him yet?" said Riley

To her it didn't make sense, if they knew he was doing something illegal then they should arrest him for it. "Mostly because they are unable to get intel on his network, and someone tips him off before a raid, we have reason to believe he has people within the police department watching his back," said Matti

"So where do we come in?" said Jack Matti tapped the screen and a woman with short dark hair appeared on the screen. "This is Zee, real name unknown, she is his tattooist and from all reports so good she has a waiting list, Mr. Mendoza is one of her favorite clients and so apparently is most of the local gang population, or at least their leaders," said Matti

"Wait, like she has rival gangs in her shop and ain't none of them killed each other yet?"said Bozer "Ms. Zee maintains a no violence safe zone, anyone who violates it is banned from the shop, which I guess for them is unthinkable" said Matti "or her work commands that level of respect"said Mac

"She would have to be a seriously good artist to command that level of respect," said Jack Images of tattoos appeared on the screen next to the photos. "She is, that's some of her work," said Riley

Mac was eyeing the picture on the screen a half-formed paperclip rose in his fingers. "So what does she have to do with Mendoza?" said Cage "So far as we know, she is the only one he trusts enough to get close to his person and she has attended parties at his mansion," said Riley

She was looking at her laptop which showed surveillance footage of the woman on the larger screen wearing a red dress and sipping champagne. "Mac your job is to get close to Zee find out what she knows and see if she has enough information to testify against Mendoza, Jack you will be helping him with that endeavor," said Matti "and if she doesn't or won't?" said Mac

Jack gave him a sideways look because he caught the hesitation in Mac's tone."Then we need you to gather the information yourselves, or find a way to convince her" said Matti "Cage, I need you to dig into miss Zee's past I don't like the lack of information we have on this girl" said Matti

She pointed to the screen and it changed. "She usually jogs down these trails every morning, it will be a good place to meet her," said Matti "So what will we be doing while they try to chat up this girl?" said Riley

"You two will be controlling the dog,or more specifically the collar that emits a high-frequency signal to perform certain behaviors, in this case, anything that will drive them together, after you two are done with the dog you are to assist Cage" said Matti The lights came back up and with that they were dismissed. Mac left a paperclip rose on the table as he left.

Jack retrieved the dog and kept it at his place overnight, while Riley got the jump drive that contained the audio files to control it. "You gonna be okay with this buddy?" said Jack Mac sighed and ran his hand down his face. "I guess I have to be, but honestly this doesn't feel right," said Mac "Yeah it doesn't, sucks to use someone that way, without looking like a douche for doing it," said Jack "Thanks, I feel so much better," said Mac with a snort.

Present day, jogging trail

"Well?" said Jack, as he roughly pet the dog and it tried to kiss him for it. "It worked she agreed to meet me for lunch, it was slow going though, she seemed afraid of me for some reason," said Mac He looked worried. Jack opened the back of the SUV to put the dog inside. "Maybe she had an abusive ex or something," said Riley in their earpieces, both men frowned in response.

"Well anyways, got to get you back to the house so you can get ready for your date," said Jack Mac shook his head and climbed into the vehicle. They dropped the dog back off at the foundation on the way to Mac's house, even though Jack wanted to keep it.

"I was just saying it was a wonderful dog," said Jack as they walked in the door of Mac's house. "So how did it go?" said Bozer "She was standoffish at first, but she still agreed to have lunch with me," said Mac "I liked that dog," said Jack "Jack for the last time you can't keep the dog," said Mac

He started heading for the bedroom. He wanted to pick out what he was going to wear before he left, the problem was he didn't know if he had anything that would fit in with who Zee usually hangs with. "Hey Mac what'cha doing?'said Bozer "Ah picking out something to wear... I ..um" said Mac

"He's acting like it's a date," said Riley. Ribbing him just a little because Mac looked so adorably nervous, she thought it was hilarious. It was just a job, but Mac was treating it like he was really going to be dating this woman.

"You know this is a job right?" said Bozer Mac gave them a halfhearted shrug and walked into his room, Bozer gave him a strange look when he didn't respond, and opened his mouth to say something more when Mac exited the room. "Okay, I need a second opinion here. Should I wear the jean jacket or the leather?" said Mac

"Ah neither, with that shirt. What are you trying to do? Make her think you're one of the village people, geez man come on" said Jack, shoving Mac back towards his room "The village people?" said Riley. Bozer chuckled, downed the last of his coffee and headed for the door, Cage could be seen in the distance sitting in a car.

"Okay man whatever, if she becomes a steady thing I want to meet her, in the meantime gotta do some B and E while our girl Zee is at work," said Bozer, as he exited the room. Riley shook her head and peeked into Mac's room, then quickly backed out when she realized Mac was in his skivvies and nothing else.

"Oh man, some warning next time," said Riley from the other side of the door. She heard Jack chuckle in response to both their reactions. "You're sure?" said Mac "Yep, that's the outfit trust me," said Jack


	2. Chapter 2

Trouble 2

Mac was sitting at the light across from her shop, both waiting for it to change and dreading that he even had to do this. Honestly, he had misgivings about this whole mission the second Matti had proposed it. The idea of using someone was something about this job that had always bothered him, as did the idea of placing someone in that amount of danger just so they could get the dirt on the people she knew.

He sighed and leaned his head against his headrest briefly. "You okay there buddy, the light changed and you're still sitting?" said Jack Frowning Mac brought his focus back to the task at hand and moved the car forward pulling into a paid parking lot a short walk from the parlor.

"Yeah, just thinking man," said Mac He parked the car and shut off the engine. He ran his hands down his face and tried to psyche himself up for this. Just treat it like it's a real date, he said over and over in his head as he got out of the car. It was this litany that enabled him to actually walk into that shop.

Downtown Los Angeles, Zee's apartment

Cage slipped into the room Bozer slipped in behind her and shut the door. The roommate had left about an hour ago. According to the few details Riley had been able to dig up, everything was in the roommate's name and the young woman, Kailey was employed by the same tattoo parlor as a body piercer. Though you really couldn't tell that two people lived in this apartment.

Some blankets and a pillow were on the futon in the living room, the other room was filled with pink fluffy very girlie girl things that simply did not match Zee's image, so they assumed it belonged to the roommate.

"It looks like she doesn't even live here," said Bozer Cage opened the closet in the hall, which in most homes served as a coat closet and found jeans, t-shirts hanging up, and the jogging outfit Zee had worn earlier shoved in a laundry bag. "Yeah she doesn't appear to have a lot of stuff," said Cage, noting the bag in the bottom of the closet which was fully packed.

She rifled through it briefly being careful not to noticeably mess up how it was packed. There was no passports or other identification in the bag. Bozer was carefully going through the drawers in the small table by the door."Anything?" said Cage "No, all I found is a grocery list," said Bozer

"Riley any luck on your end?" said Cage "I've got nada, no drivers license, credit cards, email, cell phone records, nothing it's like this lady is a ghost," said Riley "How the hell can you live without leaving any kind of digital trail?"said Bozer

"Well, apparently she has found a way because I am stumped. All I've got is tax records dating back to just before her boss set up shop here in LA but before that nothing. No school records, birth certificate, nothing, either she does not exist or she has better people than we've got covering her behind" said Riley Cage snorted "Maybe we should recruit her if she's this good at covering her tracks" said Bozer "considering it, still nothing?" said Matti

"Yeah we got nada, except that whatever she's running from has her scared enough to leave a fully packed go bag," said Cage "So she's running, but from what or who? Document everything no matter how insignificant. I'm going to check in with Mac and see how his date is going" said Matti

She sounded disappointed to both Cage and Bozer. So they kept looking for a few minutes more. Bozer closed the drawer and it jammed briefly, so he reached down to un-jam it and cut himself. "Ouch, what the heck!" said Bozer "what happened?" said Cage "I cut myself on the damn drawer," said Bozer Cage reached into her bag and went to wipe the spot of blood on the drawer front off when she noticed something.

She reached up under the drawer and pulled a knife free. "Ooh very nice, I wonder if she's got a few more surprises hidden?"said Cage "What the.. why the hell would she hide a knife under a drawer?" said Bozer "Hidden weapons are an asset in unexpected fights, she was probably expecting some sort of ambush, be more careful, and lets keep looking"said Cage

Hart and soul tattoo

A bell above the door chimed as he walked in. He took the sunglasses off his face and eyed the occupants of the room. Two bored looking bikers sat reading magazines, a Latino gang member sat there with headphones in bopping his head to the beat and working on a Sudoku book. An Asian lady at the counter was watching him while she filed her nails "Can I help you?" said the lady She was eyeing Mac up and down like he was some sort of lost college kid.

"Ah yeah, I'm here to pick up Zee," said Mac The nail file in the woman's hands suddenly stopped moving, and Mac was uncomfortably aware that the guys behind him had stopped doing what they were doing to stare at him. "I'll be out in a minute," said Zee She was just finishing the last part of a line, before setting the gun down. She took it apart some to clean it, while simultaneously giving the man climbing out of the chair, care instructions for his new ink.

The client proceeded her out of the back paid Kailey and then left,as she turned to the Asian woman and said "It's okay Kailey this is that lunch date I told you about, Kailey, Mac, Mac, Kailey" said Zee Mac held out his hand to shake the other woman's hand. Kailey did so, but she kept shooting Zee some strange looks. "I'm going to take my lunch now, be back in an hour," said Zee

Earlier that day

She didn't really expect him to show up. Most guys she met were intimidated by just the fact she worked at a tattoo parlor. While this guy did seem to pause when she said where she worked, he also acted like he hadn't been surprised by that fact either. Which made her slightly wary of the man.

To be honest she didn't trust him for all she knew he could be working for her former bosses and may or may not even know it. She sighed and walked into the apartment, changed clothes quickly and threw her work out clothes into her laundry bag, grabbed her purse and headed out the door to the bus stop. She had just enough time to snag a latte on the way to work if she hurried.

As she waited for the bus she resolved to start changing her routines again if that guy, what was his name again? Oh yeah Mac, Mac from MIT. Was able to track her down that easily it was time to find a new jogging trail. She would have Raoul's friend in the police department run a background check on him. Should be easy to find some info on a guy like that, he looked young enough to be a recent graduate.

She sighed and looked around her there was a guy in a blue car watching her bus stop, for some reason it made her nervous and she was grateful when the bus finally pulled up. She quickly climbed on board glancing over the other passengers and committing their faces to memory, just in case she wasn't just being paranoid.

Odd it still felt like she was being watched, she glanced up at the cameras with a frown, did that camera lens look like it was pointing her way? She pulled the cord exited the bus a block from the shop and walked into the coffee shop. The woman behind the counter was a familiar face, so she sighed in relief and gave her usual order.

Waiting near the others, who were doing the same, her eyes once again found the camera on the ceiling which oddly was facing where she was standing instead of the register, maybe she wasn't paranoid after all. She got her order and shoved a few bills into the tip jar as she exited the cafe.

That was another thing she was going to have to change she added it to her mental list now firmly convinced that she would have to wash her hands of this place sooner than she wanted to. Jen muttered a swear word as she pushed the door to the shop open and walked out.

She took a sip of her latte as she walked. Though she looked as if she was distracted she was, in fact, scanning the crowd and the potential locations for cameras. Whoever was currently watching her was good enough to hack both public transportation and a private business, they also knew enough about her routine to know what networks they needed to hack. It was seriously unnerving on several levels, but if they had that kind of access and they did work for her old bosses they could have easily shot her, which means they were after something else. That didn't make them any less dangerous to her.

She would be willing to bet it was someone on her client list which meant they were more than likely law enforcement. She pushed the door open to the shop, took a sip of her latte and said hi to Kailey as she passed. She put her bag in her locker, walked into the office and shut off the wireless to the security cameras before pulling up her client list and today's appointments.

A quick perusal eliminated any of the small time players from the list, leaving only five possibilities. She cursed under her breath if she turned on any of these people she would have a whole new group of people trying to kill her. She was going to have to play this close to the belt. She silently cursed whoever sent that Mac guy into her life, closed out the screen she was looking at and turned on the wireless for only the cameras in the waiting area and above Kailey's station, being careful to keep those that could be panned in the off position.

She set up her station and waited for her first appointment while she reviewed in her head what she was going to do and how to keep this Mac guy and whoever he worked for, from getting her killed. She glanced down at the tools of her current trade. She really enjoyed this career and the people she worked with were the closest thing she had to a family now, thanks to these people she would be forced to leave this all behind.

"You okay?" said Kailey "Yeah, I'm just thinking about something," said Jen Kailey gave her a once over and said "All right who is he?" said Kailey She sighed in both irritation and relief, mostly because Kailey had unintentionally given her the perfect opening. "Some guy I met on the jogging trail, we kind of literally ran into each other, because of some dumb dog," said Jen She now had Kailey's rapt attention, because the younger woman was staring at her and was unusually silent.

"So, what happened?" said Kailey "He asked me to lunch but I don't know…it's just too soon"said Jen She was playing off the cover story she had given both John and Kailey when she first started working for John, that she was running from an abusive ex who had literally tried to kill her. Kailey gave her a sympathetic look which Jen knew wasn't fake, she just wished she didn't have to lie to the woman to get it. "They are not all like him, besides its only one date what harm could it do?" said Kailey

Jen knew the woman was trying to be supportive and Jen couldn't really tell her the real reasons for her misgivings. At least not if she intended to keep them as friends, though sometimes she worried that she may have unintentionally put them in harm's way just for being her friends in the first place.

She would have to find a way to keep her friends from getting too involved in this, the last thing she wanted was for one of them to end up dead simply, because they didn't care where the clients earned their money. The doorbell chimed and Kailey looked around the corner to see one of Zee's early morning appointments.

"Sargent Hoskins is here, do you want me to send him back?" said Kailey "Yeah, I'm ready for him"said Jen Hoskins was precisely the man she needed to see at the moment, he was Denoza's inside man in the department, and a good enough friend to Zee that he wouldn't question her wanting to do a background check on this Mac fellow, it was something he had done for her before, so she doubted he would balk at doing so again. He walked into the back and flopped down into her chair.

"Hey Tom, what are we doing for you this time?" said Jen He pulled back his left sleeve. "Suspect last week got me with a knife messed up your work was hoping you could fix it," said Tom She eyed the damage critically, the flesh was newly healed but the damage was noticeable. She could add some more shading to that area and that would cover it up. "Yeah how much time do you have?" said Jen "A couple of hours, that's why I'm here so early," said Tom She nodded at him to take the shirt off, as she set up what she would need.

"Thanks, Zee, you have no idea how upset I was to see that line right through my mother's face, thanks for taking me on such a short notice" said Tom "Ah Tom, you know I can't say no to a friend, now hold still this should only take a few minutes"said Jen He froze and just watched as she darkened the shading on the one side of the face where the knife had scored its hit.

"Aren't you going to ask him?" said Kailey "Ask me what?" said Tom She sighed but didn't shrug, because she was in the middle of doing some detail and didn't want to mess it up. "Just some guy I met on the jogging trail, just wondering if you would mind.." said Jen

"Checking into his background to make sure he's not a wife beater or felon, sure just get me his name and I'll run it same as I did last time. You know I wouldn't want to see you with anyone dangerous boo" said Tom

She sighed in relief and finished the line. "Thanks, Tom, I'll see if I can get all the info this afternoon, I'll call you later with it,"said Jen He snorted "Sure wish you'd get a phone that can text, that damn piece of junk you use is the same phone my grandmother has" said Tom. She chuckled at the comment as he slowly lowered his sleeve over the bandage she had covered it with to preserve the ink. He nodded to her as he left, stopped and paid Kailey before exiting the shop.

Jen followed him out and gave Kailey a look because she wasn't usually that pushy. "All right out with it, why the push?" said Jen Kailey sighed looked up at the security camera briefly and then motioned for Jen to proceed her into the back. Jen humored her and knew she had to be having some of the same misgivings about Mac that Jen herself had.

"Zee have you ever felt that you were being watched?" said Kailey Jen nodded yes and glanced up at one of the cameras meaningfully. Kailey followed her gaze, noticed the light that indicated it was on was dark and gave Zee a confused look. "For several days actually, why?" said Jen

"It's just...I know it sounds paranoid, but I think I've seen people outside our house watching us, and outside of work" said Kailey She nodded in understanding glad she wasn't the only one feeling uneasy lately. "Yeah, I have a feeling that its law enforcement of some sort, they're more than likely after one of our clients," said Jen Kailey looked worried and glanced around the room.

"Are we in danger?"said Kailey "Only if they think we're talking to the feds,so do yourself a favor, if any of our clientele is talking on a cell phone, or to their people about things we don't need to know about,use it as an excuse for a smoke break. They know you smoke a lot anyway, or pop in your headphones, we can't give them what we don't know" said Jen

"What about you and that Mac guy?" said Kailey " I usually pop in headphones while I work, and most of the time I'm working on their arm so they have to hang up the phone anyways. As for Mac I'll get his full name and have Tom run it if anything comes back there doesn't have to be a second date" said Jen Kailey gave her a sympathetic look because even Jen could hear the disappointment in her own voice.


	3. Chapter 3

Trouble 3

Phoenix Foundation

"Got eyes on her, she just got on the city bus route 2, guess that explains the lack of drivers license, she can get practically anywhere she wants in the city, just by using public transit"said Riley "Yeah and all without having to give out any personal information to do so,very clever"said Matti

Bozer and Cage chose that moment to walk in. "Well?" said Matti "She's definitely running from someone dangerous enough to make her hide weaponry all over her place, as well as packing a go bag"said Bozer "My guess would be someone's trying to kill her,which would explain the lack of a paper trail"said Cage "Yeah but who? And could we use that as leverage?" said Matti

She turned back to Riley. "She's exiting the bus now and going into her usual coffee shop," said Riley Cage moved closer to the screen. "She's hyper-vigilant, look at that she scanned everyone in the place for recognizable faces and now she's checking out the camera" said Cage "She did that on the bus too, do you think she's made us already?"said Riley Matti snorted "Doubt it unless she's just really paranoid"said Matti "Maybe she has reason to be"said Bozer

Matti frowned as they all watched her leave the coffee shop instead of getting on another bus she opted to walk, which forced Riley to switch to the satellites. As soon as she entered the shop Riley switched to the cameras inside the shop. Zee said hello to the woman behind the counter and walked into the back room and stowed her stuff before she entered the office. Right after then Riley lost coverage on the camera in the office and the tattoo area. "What the hell, did she just shut off the cameras?" said Matti

Riley was frantically typing on keys in frustration. "Yes, yes she did and I can't access them anymore, oh wait..no that's only half of them, great she killed the only ones that could pan," said Riley in frustration, glaring at the woman on the screen angrily. The outside door opened and a guy walked in but all they could really see was the back of his head. Matti was frowning at the screen.

"Does it have audio?" said Matti "No, it's kind of ancient," said Riley. Cage was concentrating on the screen unusually hard. "She said she couldn't say no to a friend and called him Tom," said Cage Riley and Matti both gave her strange looks. "How do you know that without the audio?" said Bozer "Simple silly, I'm reading her lips," said Cage

"Tom...Tom what? Riley run that name that could be our inside man at the police department" said Matti They watched him disappear into the back following Zee into a blind zone. An hour later he emerged and Riley screen captured his face as he paid Kailey for whatever Zee had done in the back. For the rest of the day, they watched clients come and go, until it was time for Mac's date.

"well Blondie, you ready for this?" said Matti "Yeah I guess," said Mac "Hey man, try to sound more enthusiastic. She's a beautiful woman just try to remember that" said Bozer Mac snorted over the com. "Believe me I haven't forgotten it," said Mac He sounded nervous to everyone in the room. "You okay there buddy? you sound nervous" said Jack "Yeah..um do you mind?" said Mac

Jack briefly cut the feed off to Phoenix so Mac could have a bit of privacy "Yeah hold on..there just us… now what's wrong?" said Jack "I'm just thinking about..well everything you know," said Mac "It's just..this feels wrong..not getting Mendoza mind you, but having to do this to her just to get him... it's just she's an innocent in this and a civilian... I just I don't know if I can do this" said Mac

"Yeah you can buddy, and for the record I agree with you using someone like that does suck, I hate that part of the job too, but also keep this in mind you're removing someone very dangerous from her life, who knows maybe one day she'll thank you for it, lights changed time to move buddy"said Jack

Mac moved forward just as Jack turned the audio back on. "What was that?" said Matti "Our boys just a bit nervous had to give him a pep talk that's all," said Jack Matti's gaze fell on the blacked out screens. If she noticed the cameras facing her way, she might notice the coms. "Mac ditch the com," said Matti "Say what?" said Mac and Jack "She's observant as hell, she'll notice you are wired in a heartbeat, Jack just watch him from a distance," said Matti

"Observant like how? You really think she'll.." said Jack "Yes, she had weapons hiding in every corner of her house, whoever this girl is hiding from they have her scared enough to hide enough weapons to arm a village's worth of ninjas," said Cage "She's running from someone?" said Mac

"Yeah and she's paranoid enough to notice which direction a surveillance camera is pointed in and kill three in her place of business"said Cage "Got it, going dark it is,wish me luck"said Mac He took the earpiece out of his ear and hid it under his turned off the speaker part, leaving the one way mic on so they could listen in to the conversation "Good luck Blondie"said Matti

Hart and soul tattoo, somewhere on vine

The first thing Mac noticed when he entered the shop was the small antique looking bell above the door the next was that only the camera pointing at the counter appeared to be on. The clients in the front room looked like low-level thugs waiting for their boss to be done. He could hear Zee in the back room talking to the guy on the table and the steady hum of a tattoo gun.

The Asian woman behind the counter was filing her nails in boredom, so he approached her flashing her one of his signature smiles. "Can I help you?" said Kailey "Ah yeah I'm Mac, I'm here to pick up Zee," said Mac The steady background noise behind him stopped as everyone in the room gaped at him in shock. Before the Asian woman could question him further they heard Zee say from the back.

"I'll be right out," said Zee A few minutes later a man walked out of the back room Zee walked behind him giving him care instructions as he walked. He wasn't with Mendoza, but the leather jacket he was wearing had colors for a local motorcycle gang, one of the guys waiting got up and left with the man. The Asian woman was eyeing Zee weirdly "Ah Kailey this is Mac, the guy I told you about, Mac Kailey, Kailey Mac" said Zee

"You're early," said Kailey "Ah yeah, it's not going to be a problem is it?" said Mac Kailey shook her head no. "Going to lunch now, be back in an hour," said Zee Mac smirked at the woman's dumbfounded look as he followed Zee out of the door.

"I'm guessing by their reactions, that you don't go on very many dates," said Mac He gave a charming smirk and it was all she could do simply to remain focused. Damn this man was lethal to her resolve, and her piece of mind, she just hoped he wasn't to her physically.

"No, no I don't," said Zee He indicated which direction he parked in and Zee was uncomfortably aware that she was about to get into a car with a guy she knew next to nothing about. "May I ask why not?" said Mac She wasn't sure exactly how to answer that, so she just went with a skewed version of the truth.

"Most guys I meet are intimidated by where I work or so screwed up they wouldn't make good boyfriends anyways," said Zee He gave her a slightly offended look. "Ouch, sorry I asked," said Mac As she followed him, she noticed two things about Mac, one he rambled a bit when he was nervous, but somehow avoided talking about himself. He seemed confident, but at the same time a bit insecure which could be an act but she doubted it.

"what about you?" said Zee She could tell he was trying to draw her out and get her to spill the beans so to speak, but honestly she was curious about the man. "Um.. well I guess I just never met anyone that wasn't intimidated either, or that just really held my interest," said Mac He ended the statement with a smile that she was pretty sure was genuine. He led them into a paid parking lot and up to a jeep. He paused before unlocking it.

" I ah..didn't even ask you if you wanted to take your vehicle..er sorry," said Mac She smiled at him. "That's all right, I don't have one at the moment," said Zee "ah okay, why?" said Mac She shrugged, it's not like he could check this anyways. "It broke down and I couldn't afford to get it fixed, so I junked it, "said Zee

He frowned at her answer as if he was expecting something else. What she conveniently left out was that she hadn't owned the car in the first place and that she was driving it without a license, she had in fact stolen it and ditched it in Las Vegas right before meeting John. He gave her a place to live and a convenient source of income as well as contact with several people adept at forging documents. Which is how she got her current alias and several more stashed all around the city.

"Why don't you just buy a new one?" said Mac He unlocked the door and hit the button to unlock the passenger's side door. She shrugged as if his question didn't bother her as much as it was. "Probably because I really hate driving," said Zee She walked around to the other side of the car and climbed inside. Mac climbed inside the jeep and put the key into the ignition. She fastened her seat belt and waited while he did the same. "So where are we going?" said Zee He smirked at her again. "It's a surprise," said Mac She gave him a strange look, because she was honestly not fond of surprises, but was willing to see where this goes.

"So what's your real name?" said Mac "What's yours?" said Zee, "I asked first," said Mac "Zanera," said Zee, giving the false identities first name. He smiled somewhat because he was certain that was a lie. "MacGyver," said Mac She chuckled at him."That your first name or your last?" said Zee He smiled at the question.

"Last, my first name is Angus," said Mac He sounded embarrassed by the fact. "Like the beef?" said Zee He looked embarrassed too, not that she blamed him that was a horrible moniker to saddle a kid with. "Yeah, I know it's horrible," said Mac She could agree with that much, his parents certainly didn't do him any favors saddling him with such a name. "Angus MacGyver, sounds Scottish and it could have always been worse, they could have named you Sheldon or Murphy or something," said Zee

He blanched and made a face as if her suggestion was horrifying. "Thanks, I feel so much better and I'm not sure if it is Scottish," said Mac He pulled out into traffic and Zee noticed someone in a black car pulled out of their spot by the curb and followed them into traffic. She wasn't sure if it was a tail or just coincidental, either way, it made her nervous as did the fact that he glanced in the mirror and obviously wasn't surprised by their presence, which either meant he knew them or was oblivious to their presence.

They went halfway across town to a place in Santa Monica near the pier. He parked in public parking and shut off the car. Their tail had vanished somewhere along the route so she thought they had either lost them or that she had been mistaken. "we're here" said Mac as he shut off the car. She gave him a strange look because other than a few places on the pier and a few sandwich shops on the promenade, she had no idea where he intended to eat.

"Come on," said Mac He climbed out of the car and curious she followed him out. He went to the back of the jeep, and pulled out some sort of folded blanket, then closed the back trunk area and started walking towards a small shop. She followed him still confused by what he had planned, but willing to humor him.

He walked into the shop and up to the pickup counter "I have a mobile order, names MacGyver" said mac to the lady behind the counter. Zee gave him a confused look. "hope you don't mind not really sure what you liked, but wasn't sure how much time you would have either, so I ordered for you" said Mac

She frowned not really sure how she felt about someone assuming they could order for her and ready to be properly pissed, if he ordered her a salad. The woman behind the counter shoved what looked like two wrapped sandwiches into a paper bag, along with two cans of soda and handed the bag to Mac. She noticed he didn't pay for it which meant more than likely he paid through whatever app he used to place the order, she hoped he remembered the tip.

She sometimes envied those who could just use convenience like that without worrying that it could lead some killers to their doorstep. He walked out and she followed him as he walked towards the beach. Ah, so he planned on a picnic at the beach, how very romantic. She had to admit the dude had some serious moves and if she wasn't so worried that all this was a set up, she might actually find herself falling for the man.

He walked down the small stairs and into the sand and found an empty space where they could be alone. She noticed that it could be viewed from one of the parking lots or even the pier if necessary. He handed her the bag and then unfolded the blanket and laid it on the sand.

"I know it's not much, but I figured with the..sand and the.." said Mac "Water, it would be romantic", said Zee She smirked at the nervous sheepish look Mac was sporting. "Ah yeah, that transparent huh?" said Mac She sat down on the edge of the blanket and set the bag down next to her. "Like glass", said Zee

He gave her a considering look as if he wasn't sure what to make of that statement. He opened his mouth to say something but she was already digging through the bag to see what he had chosen. The people from the sandwich shop had written on the paper wrapping and she was certain past was supposed to be pastrami, but wasn't sure what clu was supposed to be short for.

"Past and clu?"said Zee "Pastrami and club sandwich, wasn't sure if you liked onions so I opted to skip them on both, it was either that or salads and I didn't want to be insulting, so.."said Mac She smirked at him for even considering how that would be received and for guessing correctly on her tastes. "How very thoughtful of you, which one do you want?" said Zee

"Ah I don't care I like them both, go ahead and choose what you like", said Mac He sat down across from her on the same blanket, she pulled out the one marked clu and handed him the pastrami, because she wasn't sure if they put horseradish on it or not. He smirked, and unwrapped the sandwich she had handed him and then dug into the bag for a soda. He handed her one and then retrieved the second one for himself.

He opened his and took a bite of his sandwich, but he was eyeing her the whole time like he wanted to ask her something. She took a bite of her sandwich and looked at Mac waiting for whatever prying question he was intending to ask. "So why tattooing?" said Mac She grinned at him.

She knew that's not what he had intended to ask, but for some reason, he seemed nervous around her, too nervous to ask whatever was really on his mind, or else he was just trying to gain her trust first. She shrugged "it's relaxing, makes you good money and I'm a descent artist." said Zee He nodded as if agreeing with her self assessment, even if he had no idea that any of that was true. "So what about you? What do you do for a living?" said Zee


	4. Chapter 4

Trouble 4

Mac paused for a moment as if he was unsure how to answer that. "Oh I work for a think tank, doing research and what not, kind of boring actually," said Mac She was fairly certain that was a lie but unwilling to call him on it just yet. She wanted them to tip their hand first, and then if it looked bad, then and only then would she flee.

She shrugged as nonchalantly as she could and said "That would depend on what's being researched I would imagine" said Zee He smiled in response to her answer. "Maybe but like I said it's kind of boring," said Mac "They recruit straight out of MIT?" said Zee He looked shocked for half a second before remembering what he had been wearing when they met. "Ah yeah, you remembered what I was wearing?" said Mac.

Kind of hard not to her mind supplied, you looked completely yummy in it. "Good memory," said Zee She took another bite of her sandwich and downed some more soda. He seemed like a decent guy so far, even despite her misgivings she was thinking of giving him a second date, just to see what it was they were really after. Who knows, maybe even get her a little something before she vanished into the night, anything other than that would put him in danger too.

"Yeah incredible, I'm impressed, so where did you go to school?" said Mac She paused for a second trying to recall the past she made up for this persona. "Just high school,why?"said Zee He smiled "No reason, it's just you seem well educated that's all"said Mac She frowned a bit "Parents were big on being well read, believed we should never stop learning and all that"said Zee "Oh, same here actually. Do they live in the area?" said Mac

He caught the wince even though she tried to hide it. "No, they died some time ago," said Zee He gave her a sad and very sympathetic look. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so insensitive, but I know how you feel my mother died when I was very young," said Mac

He seemed uncomfortable with the subject matter, and she sensed he was about to change the subject, not that she minded right now. He had brought up some seriously horrible memories, and she was quite willing to talk about anything else right now, as long as it had nothing to do with her family.

"Okay um.. this is awkward.. so you didn't grow up here I take it"said Mac "Ah no,why?" said Zee "Just curious where you're from,that's all"said Mac "Las Vegas and you?"said Zee "Small town near Yosemite, Mariposa I believe it's Spanish for butterfly"said Mac

She wasn't sure if that was the truth or not but sounded genuine. She almost felt bad for lying so thoroughly to the man, that was if she could fully trust he was who he said he was. She smirked and her phone rang in her back pocket.

She fished it out and flipped it open. "Yeah?" said Zee "Zee, what the hell! You were due back like half an hour ago, plus John is here and wants to know what the hell is going on?" said Kailey

Frowning, It couldn't be that late was it? Zee looked at her watch. "Oh shit, sorry Kailey," said Zee She started to turn, to tell Mac that they would have to cut this short, and he held up his hand to stop her.

"I heard, but if you want to do this again sometime, just hand me your phone, and I'll add my number to your contacts," said Mac She thought about it for a second then handed him her phone after she hung up.

She almost laughed at him, when he gave her phone a strange look like it was some sort of alien technology or something. "What the heck is..why do you use such an ancient phone, this is something my grandmother would use?" said Mac She chuckled and shrugged.

"It's simple to use, doesn't come cluttered with a bunch of bullshit I don't use, and I'm a bit of a technophobe," said Zee

Okay, the last one wasn't strictly true, she really had no problem with technology just the fact that people could use it to track her down and kill her, and all the lack of privacy being in such a connected world entailed. He gave her a look that plainly said he understood and scrolled through her rather short list of contacts before entering his own entry. He handed the phone back to her.

"Well, then I guess I should get you back then, huh," said Mac He climbed to his feet while Zee shoved the trash back into the now empty bag. He folded the blanket up and they started back for the car. Zee was actually sorry that their date had come to a close, but she also had another dilemma, she really had to pee.

She was looking around for a public toilet when she spotted one beachside. "Ah Mac do you mind?" said Zee She pointed at the bathroom. "Oh yeah sure, I'll wait for you if you like," said Mac "Ah, yeah sure," said Zee Then she rushed towards the door because she did really have to go. While she sat in the stall using it, she called Tom and gave him Mac's first and last name.

Mac thought it was hilarious that her roommate slash coworker had glared him down the whole time he was waiting for Zee. He honestly didn't expect her clients to glare at him though and wondered if that would be a problem later on. She was obviously well liked and respected.

When she told him as they walked to the car that she didn't usually date, he would have been offended until he remembered the harsh looks, maybe the reason they were intimidated had nothing to do with where she worked. She seemed open, but at the same time, he got the impression that she was cherry picking her responses to his questions as if she were reading off of a script, which he was fairly certain she was doing.

He wondered how long she had been doing this, and just how many identities she had in her head. They had a pleasant conversation over lunch until he mentioned parents, and caught the flash of pain in her eyes. He instantly felt bad and rushed to reassure her by mentioning his mom and trying to be understanding.

He was about to find out more when her roommate called, apparently they had both lost track of the time. Though a quick glance at his phone confirmed that it was only ten minutes past an hour. She did, however, hand him her phone and allow him to enter his number, even though the device was ancient as shit.

It was no wonder Riley couldn't find anything on her, the phone was obviously a burner, and it didn't have location services or any other app he could use for the same thing. He was beginning to believe her about being a technophobe just based on the phone alone. They packed up their meal and started to walk back to the car when she indicated that she had to use the restroom.

A second after she disappeared inside, he received a text. "She just had her friend in the police department do a background check on you," said Riley's text He nodded in understanding knowing the Phoenix profile would hold up under scrutiny, he wasn't really surprised. He typed back the limited list of contacts she had on her phone including a Tom Hoskins, so Riley could run the information and hopefully eliminate their inside man.

He watched the door while simultaneously texting Riley back, apparently, the group wanted to know how the date had gone since he had to leave the microphone in the car. He saw the door move and closed the messenger app, and reopened a mahjong app, and started playing it so it would look like he was doing so the entire time she was in the restroom. She looked relieved as if something was no longer bothering her. "So ready to go back to work?" said Mac

She smiled at him but he caught the nervous glance at his phone. "Yeah, I suppose I should let you go so you can get back to your boring research," said Zee He chuckled and they walked back to the car in good spirits. She was quiet when she got to the car and he assumed she was thinking about something. "So I have the weekend off if you want we can go out to dinner or something," said Zee

He smiled at her, glad he wasn't going to have to work around her schedule to get closer to her. "Sure that sounds great just text me the address, and I'll pick you up at your place," said Mac She giggled, and then he remembered the ancient phone she was using. "Let me guess that antique doesn't text," said Mac "Got it in one, sweetheart," said Zee He smirked. "Then I'll just have to call you I guess," said Mac

Zee rushed into the bathroom and into the first stall that was empty. It was horrifyingly dirty in here but it did give her some privacy. She sat down and quickly called Tom giving him Mac's first and last name, Tom promised to call her later with anything that he found.

Zee vowed that when she got off work tonight she would hit the nearest library and look up the phoenix foundation just to make sure it wasn't in any way connected to Reese pharmaceuticals.

First thing on the list, was a nice long talk that she needed to have with John, Kailey and most of her clientele, they seemed to be taking the we see you as a little sister attitude, a little too seriously. Mac had been right it was unusual, that every guy she met seemed to run for the hills right after the first date.

"Care to talk about it?" said Mac She frowned no not really, but she really should give him some sort of warning, just in case what she was thinking was true. "Ah actually yeah, I feel I should probably warn you, some of my friends and clientele see me as a sort of surrogate little sister, so they might.." said Zee "try to scare me away, not going to work I don't scare easily but thanks for the warning," said Mac

They pulled out into traffic and Zee noticed the same car was following them again. She had also noticed it in the parking lot by the beach, in a location that would have given whoever was driving it a perfect view of their location. Again she didn't know if that should worry her or not, but decided to let it go for now, and see what Tom came up with about her impromptu date. A few minutes later, because Mac drove like a crazy person, they were in front of the shop. Mac pulled up to the curb and she climbed out waving goodbye to the man as he pulled away.

Mac waited until he was out of visual range and then pulled the com out from under his seat and started talking.

"She claims to be a technophobe and uses a seriously ancient flip phone, like a pre-blackberry style, I think I found the only millennial in existence that doesn't text. She said she only finished high school, but something tells me that was a lie, she claims to be from the Las Vegas area and both her parents are dead. Certain that the hometown location is a lie, but pretty sure she's telling the truth about the parents.

She seemed to be struggling to remember details, so this may be an alias possibly one of many. She did claim to have a car once upon a time, but supposedly she junked it because she couldn't afford the repairs, sounds like a stolen vehicle to me. Oh, and I also put my number into her phone, because she wants to do this again sometime. I'll be back in a few minutes." said Mac

At Phoenix

Riley was frantically typing on keys before Mac even said he was on his way back. She was researching stolen vehicles, with out of state plates, that had shown up in junkyards around Las Vegas around the time frame Zee had started working for her current boss John Hart. Several other analysts were doing virtually the same thing combing through footage and lists and eliminating those the cops had already apprehended and were currently still in jail.

"Got her, about damn time! Now, what name did you sign? Damn it, lady, move your arm" said Riley The woman, who looked an awful lot like a heavier version of Zee walked towards the door shoving cash into her pocket. Riley screen captured her image and compared the two photos using facial recognition software. "It's her, but like a serious plus-sized version of her, damn she lost weight," said Bozer "Great now any idea what name she used to sell it," said Matti

"No not yet, but now that I have an older image I can use facial recognition to comb through tons of photos for her image."said Riley "Cage, Bozer, head to Vegas I want to know what alias she was using when she first rolled into town, and I want it traced back to its , keep combing I know this woman's real name is out there somewhere, we just have to find it"said Matti

"So what did I miss?" said Mac walking in the door, followed by a grinning Jack Dalton. "Man, she said she wanted to do it again? I tell you she is into you, hear what I am saying" said Jack "Dalton! Earth to Dalton did you get anything on her?" said Matti "Well as a matter of fact I did, she is as paranoid as you were saying and also she called someone named Tom while she was in the bathroom" said Jack "Yes we are aware of that, anything more" said Matti

Jack grinned "Just, that she was checking out our boy Mac's backside like he was a prime bit of beef or something," said Jack Mac blushed ever so slightly "She was not..was she?" said Mac Jack nodded yes, as soon as Matti turned away from them. Matti rolled her eyes and muttered men under her breath.

"Dalton, while we eagerly await Mac's next date with Zee I need you to shadow her boss and see what you can learn about the guy, Mac I need you to stay here I do not need any of them making the connection between you two," said Matti "butt?.."said Mac

"No butts MacGyver, your goal is to gain this woman's trust so we can get closer to Mendoza, you can't do that if it appears that you are stalking her"said Matti "Yeah, that's only romantic in teen movies not real life"said Bozer Mac shook his head and with a sigh collapsed into a chair.

"Don't worry Mac, we'll solve the mystery in your mystery woman" said Riley Mac caught a glimpse of what was on her screen and moved closer. "Is that her?" said Mac "Yeah at about 150 lbs heavier according to the facial software."said Riley "Damn, that must have taken a serious amount of work"said Jack "Yeah, but worth it I mean check out the before and after shots" said Bozer Mac was just staring at the screen trying to wrap his head around what he was seeing. Riley elbowed Bozer and they both grinned at the expression on Mac's face.

"She's that hot huh?" said Riley Mac looked down at the floor and then held up his hands in surrender. "What can I say, she's fascinating, a mystery.." said Mac "and appears to need our help?" said Bozer They gave Mac a level look because they had all caught that look on his face when they told him about the weapons and stuff at her house. They knew the man well enough to know that he would try to play white knight if he could. "Yeah..yeah I know," said Mac "Geez, I'm not that transparent," said Mac "Like glass, Blondie," said Matti

He glanced over at Matti and found her eyeing one of the analyst's screens and pretty much ignoring them all. She looked up to find Dalton, Bozer, and Cage were still there. "Don't you people have someplace to be?" said Matti

Jack saluted Matti and headed for the door. "Catch ya later man," said Jack Cage was likewise heading to the door with a printout one of the techs had made from the security footage. "Sorry Mac good buddy but I gots to go," said Bozer

Mac nodded in understanding as he watched all his friends leave on assignments, feeling a bit left out that he couldn't do any of the legwork with them. What he didn't see was Matti watching him with a worried look on her face. "Hey, Blondie.." said Matti Mac turned away from the screen to look at his boss.

"Try not to get too attached, if this works they will more than likely put her in witness protection and you probably won't see her again," said Matti Mac had absently picked up a paperclip while Matti talked and was slowly shaping it into a broken heart. "Yeah, I know," said Mac forlornly. Matti frowned at his response, because it sounded heartbroken already, and he had just barely spent one afternoon with this woman. Mac climbed to his feet and headed for the door."I'm going home, text me if they find anything interesting" said Mac

Zee walked into the shop to find her coworker and her boss whispering together like they were conspiring against someone. Zee cleared her throat and they both looked up guiltily. "Three minutes past the hour, and you're already calling out the national guard it's a new record," said Zee They both nervously looked away.

"Well?" said Kailey John glared at her and then turned his attention back to Zee.

"We were just concerned, it's not like you to be late," said John Zee chuckled, because she knew there was plenty of times that she had been late, and John was obviously choosing to ignore it. She glanced at the cameras and noted they still appeared to be off which meant she could talk here without being spied upon.

"So I take it you told him?" said Zee "About this mysterious guy, that may or may not be a cop?" said John "Yeah him, I gave the name to Tom to run"said Zee "You know if he does happen to be a cop, that puts us all in danger. Especially if certain clients find out" said Kailey She gave John a strange look and Zee was curious about what it meant.

"So who are you having do it?" said Zee "Do what?" said John "Scare away anyone that looks at me twice," said Zee Kailey looked away guiltily and Zee pined her with a glare, as did john, but for an entirely different reason.

"The sons," said Kailey Zee turned her narrowed gaze back to John. "You're having a bunch of bikers threaten my dates?" said Zee John swallowed nervously and actually backed up when Zee took a step forward. "To be fair we were only trying to protect you," said Kailey

"Well stop it, let me handle this"said Zee "and if they find out your using a stolen identity?"said John "Then I'll point them in the direction of someone who is no longer with us and vanish while they look"said Zee "We're just worried that's all"said Kailey "I know, so am I and believe me if it at any time feels like everything is about to go south, I'll make sure they look for me not you"said Zee

John frowned at her response and opened his mouth to protest. "You know I can take care of myself John you've seen me fight, just let me handle this" said Zee "Fine but I'm having Jose draw you up some new identity papers, and I'm leaving you the keys for the boat"said John "and I'm going to have Callie set up a room at the hotel for either of us, as well as some emergency funds just in case"said Kailey "You two are really that worried?"said Zee

"Yeah babe ain't no one gonna make you disappear on us,you're family," said John Zee softened and wrapped her arms around John, Kailey moved forward too so they were all in a group hug now. She had been so lost and scared when that car had dumped her in Las Vegas, and finding a job in that town without giving references had been so impossible, that John had been a literal godsend.

"Thanks you guys you have no idea what that means to me," said Zee "Just promise us you'll play it safe, no taking agent boy to any of the client's parties, or anything. I don't care how cute he is"said Kailey Zee blushed and lowered her head her friends were right she had been thinking with her libido and ignoring the very real danger that Mac represented to both herself and her friends, simply because the man had a killer smile, and abs, and butt..okay focus Jen.

"I promise, if you two promise me that when our clients start talking business that you will use it as an excuse to step out of the room, we can't give anyone anything we don't know"said Zee They both nodded in agreement though Kailey hesitated for some reason, then Zee walked towards the back. She thought John and Kailey were done, but obviously, it wasn't so, because he followed her into the back.

"Tell me about him," said John She had stopped by her locker, she was about to put her bag away. "He's smart, funny and seems like a genuinely decent guy" said Zee "but still there's something about him that scares you"said John She sighed and rested her forehead on her locker. "maybe its just cause I'm not used to guys like him being into me, or I'm right and he really is after something else" said Zee "You sure you're just not comparing him to Michael?"said Kailey

Apparently, she had followed John into the back as well. Michael was the name of the head of security from Reese that killed her parents, and at one time he had been a friend, but John and Kailey thought he was the crazy ex who tried to kill her, only the last half was true. He had tried to kill her, but she had never dated the man.

"No, I guess I'm just unwilling to trust anyone like that again," said Zee John sighed and rested his hand on her shoulder.

"I know it didn't work out between us, and honestly that was my fault. I have always thought you can do better than me, I just hope you can find the one that proves that to you" said John He sounded sad and she raised her eyes to meet his. It was obvious that John still had feelings for her but he had been starting to lean towards Kailey now that they had broken up. Even though she didn't know the woman as well as she liked, Kailey had stepped in and helped John to move on, Zee was certain that when she left that Kailey would do so again.


	5. Chapter 5

Trouble 5

She had only moved in with Kailey to give her and John a chance. It was marginally less awkward with the woman as her roommate. Zee had considered getting her own place, but she was still iffy about letting anyone run her credit, even for this persona which had no real credit history. Besides she really didn't see the point she spent so little time in the apartment as it was and it would hamper her escape if something was in her name.

John walked back out of the tattoo area, presumably to do what he promised and go talk to Jose. Kailey had a client who wanted a gauge in their ear and Zee had a few small appointments before she was done for the day.

Jack was sitting outside the store watching John's bike. He had opted for a motorcycle as well, because Zee had been observant enough to notice the car, and he was uncertain if her boss was just as paranoid as she was. Matti's people were coming up with something they could use to give them audio in the shop since it had several blind spots now thanks to Zee.

He smirked to himself, Riley was really getting frustrated with the woman's lack of trust when it came to technology, if they didn't need all the information they could get on her clients, he would find her frustration hilarious.

He was starting to get incredibly bored when John finally emerged. Jack eyed the man for a few minutes, uncertain if this was indeed the man that he was supposed to be tailing, and wondering what the hell someone who looked like Zee saw in a man that looked like a biker version of Santa Claus. He shook his head and started his bike. He waited until John did the same and pulled out of the lot. Jack watched the man pass him, before pulling out himself, and following the man acting as if they were simply on the same road together. John glanced back at him briefly but Jack acted as if he didn't care.

John turned off the road and into a residential neighborhood. Jack blew past him then turned on the next street over, and made his way back to where John had turned. The houses in this area looked like mostly working class or poor households. Jack had briefly lost John's location when he was forced to make that turn, so now he was making his way back going street by street looking for signs of John's bike. On the bright side the man had a custom airbrushed paint design of a seriously wicked looking dragon on his gas tank, so it should be easy to.. ah there it was.

It was parked in front of one of the houses, several Latino-looking men were sitting on the porch stoop and standing around the driveway drinking beers. John was nowhere outside that he could see. Jack rounded the corner parked the bike and contacted Matti. He gave her people the address and had it ran.

A few minutes later Matti came on the line. "The house belongs to a Jose Ramirez, he's been arrested a few times for forgery and identity theft, my guess is that he is there to buy new documents for either Zee or all of them, stay on him, Jack. Let's see what he's planning" said Matti Jack nodded and kicked back on his bike watching Jose's house until John left. Jack followed him back to his house and then waited.

Sighing Jack resolved himself to another boring night watching a target.

Cage and Bozer had just touched down in Vegas and were heading for a rental car that was already waiting for them. Cage slid behind the wheel and Bozer climbed into the passenger side. "It's on north Lamb," said Bozer

He was looking at the map app on his phone and feeding Cage directions. Cage could tell something was bothering him because he was never this quiet. "Spill," said Cage Bozer frowned and looked up from his phone.

"What?" said Bozer "Something is bothering you, what is it?" said Cage Bozer looked down at his phone again, but didn't say anything for several minutes so Cage analyzed his body language. "You're worried about him," said Cage "Ordinarily no, I mean Mac can take care of himself but.." said Bozer "This seems different, he's not reacting like this is just a job," said Cage

Bozer sighed "No, he's not. I'm worried he's actually falling for her" said Bozer "and that he will get hurt when this is all over" said Cage "Yeah, I also wonder if we're doing the right thing" said Bozer Now it was Cage's turn to wear that pensive and slightly confused expression.

"How so?" said Cage "I mean, you saw that weapons stash at her house. She was gearing for a fight for her life if ever I saw one, what if we lead whoever is hunting her right to her" said Bozer Cage sighed because she could see the picture he was painting mentally if Mac truly liked this girl he would try to save her. If he couldn't, or something happened to her they may lose Mac, or he could end up getting his heart broken.

Cage saw the sign and turned into the parking area. "We'll just have to be careful that's all, but we should pass on our reservations to Riley and Matti maybe they can come up with something, but for now we have a job to do," said Cage She shut off the car and climbed out. Bozer closed the app and they both affixed the fake FBI badges Matti had provided to their shirts.

They walked inside and up to the counter. One of the employees walked up to the counter, his name tag read Hector. "Can I help you folks find something?" said Hector "Actually yes we're looking for a 1976 Buick Skylark with these plates," said Cage She handed the picture to Hector. He frowned at the page and then typed something into a seriously ancient computer system that looked like it still took floppy disks.

"Ah yeah had to put it on the un-sellable side of the lot, had someone try to buy it but DMV search came back as stolen, it's right over here," said Hector He led them out the door and towards the side lot, which seemed to contain quite a few cars. "Are all of these stolen?" said Bozer "Ah no, some just have unclear titles, liens, deceased owners and the like" said Hector He seemed offended that Bozer was implying that they bought stolen vehicles.

"Actually we are looking for the woman who sold it," said Cage

Hector nodded in understanding. "So are we that's 900 bucks she jilted us out of, hope you have better luck than the police busting her," said Hector He led them back inside and he pulled up the file and then went to look for the receipt. "Normally we don't keep the receipts after the vehicle has changed hands unless we intended to resell it, the only thing wrong with it was it needed a new radiator, old one leaked surprised it made it this far really, here that's everything we have on it," said Hector

He handed her a file and opened it on top was a receipt for 900 dollars signed by an Alice Beechham. "Cops ran the name, Ms. Beechham is 92 and in a retirement home in Waco, Texas, she didn't even know her son was selling the vehicle, He lives in Kansas and had it parked at a local truck stop just outside of Wichita. The woman who signed this wasn't anywhere near that age" said Hector

Cage nodded, yeah she wasn't but at least they had a name they could use to trace the car and hopefully the girl as well. "Thank you so much, Hector, we'll be in touch," said Cage and she headed for the door Bozer was at her heels. She was on her phone before they were even to the car. "She stole the car from an Alice Beecham in Waco Texas, the guy we talked to here said her son was attempting to sell the vehicle out of a truck stop in Wichita," said Cage

"Got it we'll talk to the son, then call up the area on satellites and find out where she came from before she stole that vehicle, hopefully we can find something from that far back"said Riley She sounded happy and Bozer figured it was from finally finding out the truth when it came to this woman.

"Head back, you guys are done there," said Matti Cage hung up. "A ninety-two-year-old woman? She stole from a little old lady" said Bozer He snorted. "Starting to not have any sympathy at all for this woman," said Bozer Cage shook her head, because she was starting to understand the girl, and it wasn't painting a very reassuring picture.

Mac was staring at his phone as if willing it to ring. He wanted to know what was going on but at the same time liked the mystery Zee presented him with. The phone buzzed indicating a text, so Mac glanced at it. The message was from Bozer claiming that they were on their way back, and asking how he was holding up. He texted back that he was bored and set the phone down.

Zee was done for the night and after dumping her tools in the cleaner, she left Kailey to clean up and lock up. Instead of heading straight home she headed for the nearest library and logged into a public terminal. She quickly called up everything the browser returned on The Phoenix Foundation. The website for the company was a bit vague, so she dug deeper, checking for any meaningful contributions to science the company had made. Nothing came back at all, which was very odd for a think tank.

The website was squeaky clean, too clean to be legit. Whatever the phoenix foundation was, it wasn't a think tank which meant that it was more than likely the cover for something else. Now she was thoroughly spooked this was some deep spy novel type shit, and she was willing to bet that it was some sort of off the books government agency.

Suddenly uneasy she closed out the browser and looked around, no one was watching her. She booked it for the door and got on the first bus that came her way. She took her time going home and thought about going to John's house more than once.

In the end, she went home, and sat there in the dark for a few minutes, just staring at her phone and debating on deleting Mac's number. In the end, she just plugged it into the charger and slept with one of her knives in her hands, only waking a little when Kailey walked in. She didn't have any appointments the next day and she was determined to simply ignore Mac and hope the man went away. It was a horribly cowardly move, but she had genuinely liked the man and honestly wasn't good with confrontation.

She also wanted nothing to do with whatever it was they had planned, certain it was more than likely dangerous enough to get her killed. She avoided the jogging trail she usually took and told both Kailey and John if Mac came in looking for her that they had no idea where she was, which was true because she had no intention of telling them.

She intended to take the few days off she had, and just make plans of her own to run, but first she needed to relax so she could think, which is why she got off at the sports some rock climbing and a bit of aerial acrobatics on their trampolines would calm her mind.

Mac was driving around since Matti wouldn't let him take any other assignments until this one was done he officially had several days off while he waited for Zee to call, he had never been so bored in his life. After the second day, he was certain she had no intention of calling him. So he went by the shop to hopefully talk to her, and find out what gives with the whole silent treatment.

According to both her boss and roommate, they haven't seen her since Thursday, a fact Jack confirmed. Jill had flagged someone running a search on the phoenix foundation, including a visit to the website, which Riley was following up on through the public terminal the person had used.

"Yeah it was her, she logged in to use their system right before closing Thursday night, do you think she's on to us?" said Riley "no, but I am worried about her, thanks Riley," said Mac

He was currently stopped at a light waiting for it to change when he noticed the bus at the curb discharge a familiar looking head of hair. He smirked and followed her with his eyes as she entered the parking lot of some sports complex. The light changed but he was forced to wait to switch lanes until the bus pulled out and by then he lost the visual on her.

"I think I just spotted her, going dark for awhile guys she just walked into the sports complex in Van Nuys"said Mac "Gotcha using your phones location and hacking their camera system as we speak, okay that was pathetically easy, I'm in good luck"said Riley He thanked Riley then hung up and turned into the driveway for the complex. It was mostly deserted at this time of day with only a few cars in the parking lot. So Mac parked and got out of the car. He was reading the sign as he walked towards the door.

Indoor mountain climbing, trampoline park, and Indy raceway. He smirked as he reached the door it sounded like a place for children's birthday parties. The guy at the counter looked up with a bored expression on his face. "Hey, I think I just saw a friend of mine walk in here. Do you have any idea where she would be in there?" said Mac

He poured on the charm just a bit. The guy gave him a considering look as if he didn't believe Mac was really her friend. "Oh, really what's her name?" said the man "Zee," said Mac He was trying to read the man's name tag, but it was seriously faded like he had forgotten to remove it when he washed it a few times. The man sighed "She usually pays for the whole package, she could be anywhere inside" said the man Nodding Mac pulled out his wallet.

"What's it cost?" said Mac

The man moved so Mac could see the sign behind him that read $50 for the unlimited adult armband. So Mac handed over the cash and let the man affix a red plastic band on his wrist. Then waited for the man to buzz him in. He walked in, and after letting his eyes adjust for a few seconds set out in search of Zee.

He noted that most people here seemed to be in some sort of work out gear similar to yoga pants, which made him feel a bit subconscious in his t-shirt and jeans. He checked the race track first, even though Zee had said she didn't like to drive he wasn't sure if that was a lie or not. A simple glance over the track revealed only a couple of teens using it so Mac moved on.

He stopped briefly in the wall climbing room and noted with a feeling of unease that the main climbing tower was at least two stories high, because it started in an area that was sunk into the floor, and was only reachable through a flight of stairs, thankfully Zee wasn't in that area either.

Mac headed for the trampoline area and as he was about to enter an employee told him if he intended to jump he would have to change clothes and lose the shoes. Mac nodded and reassured the woman that he was simply watching for now and the lady let him go by.

Mac glanced around the room, noting the parents with young children in one area. He moved forward and noted that some people were staring at the ceiling for some reason. Curious he turned his gaze skyward in time to see Zee go flying towards the ceiling do a jackknife in the air than spin and come flying back down to do so again.

He stood there for a few minutes just watching her in rapt fascination as she performed some seriously dangerous aerial acrobatics with her eyes closed and a seriously relaxed expression on her face.

"She's so beautiful" whispered a kid to his right. Mac turned to look at the kid who was straight out staring in opened mouth awe at Zee."Yeah she is kid" said Mac He watched as she spun in the air, like some sort of air born top, her hair flying out to the sides creating an almost halo-like effect around her head.

Zee paid for the unlimited pass just like she always did and headed for the locker room area to change. Kailey had called her earlier while she was on the bus to tell her that Mac had stopped by the shop to find her.

She should have known the man wouldn't simply give up, and if she didn't suspect that he was only using her to get to one of her clients, she would have been sort of flattered, that was if she ignored the slight stalker-ish vibe his actions gave off.

She changed and headed towards the trampoline area first because the race course was already filled with teen couples and she didn't feel like dealing with anyone else right now. She glanced at the clock and waited a few seconds before walking into the trampoline area.

She spotted Cassie the woman who usually oversaw the trampoline area, the woman had on more than one occasion called Zee out on her seriously dangerous behavior, so Zee chose an area in the back and just kept it to limited bouncing until it was time for Cassie's shift to be almost over. She watched the woman without the woman really noticing she was doing so, and when Cassie left the room Zee started to really get some air. To the point, she could reach out and touch the metal ceiling beams if she wanted to.

Once she was far enough into the air she just lost herself in the movements relishing in the feeling of weightlessness that made her feel like she was flying. Spinning and tumbling in the air. She knew she was drawing an audience but sort of enjoyed the attention, until she spotted a familiar head of blond hair, and decided to tone it down some before one of the parents in the audience decided to alert the staff to her dangerous behavior.

It took her a few minutes to bring her momentum down enough that she was no longer soaring to the ceiling, and fortunately, that is when the staff walked in and approached her area. Mac must have seen their approach and deliberately stepped into their path.

"Oh so sorry, didn't see you was letting my girlfriend have a turn," said Mac The man looked over Mac's attire and opened his mouth to admonish Mac for being in street clothes. "Oh yeah that's right, I was supposed to show you where you can change," said Zee

She grabbed Mac and steered him away from the staff and out of the trampoline area before the staff could even formulate a response. He was chuckling at the look on the staffs face as they exited the area.

"I take it they have a problem with you doing that?" said Mac He was grinning when he said it like they had just gotten away with something bad. "Yeah they seem to think it's too dangerous," said Zee He sobered slightly, because what she had been doing was dangerous, and it worried him that she didn't see that.

He did notice that she really was steering him towards the wardrobe rental area. As they got nearer to the counter, he pulled her back towards him so he was damn near hugging her. "That's because it is..if you had landed.." said Mac She put her finger on his lips to stop what he was about to say. "Heard it all before love, now tell um your size so we can get climbing," said Zee

He hesitated, and she started to turn away from him until she realized that he was still holding her hand and hadn't moved from the spot he was currently occupying. She turned back towards him and gave him a puzzled look. "Mac?'said Zee "ah! Can we skip the whole mountain climbing experience? I'm..not too fond of heights" said Mac She smiled at his response, the man was afraid of heights, that was just too cute.

"It's alright I won't let you fall, baby, besides they have safety harnesses and the like it's perfectly safe trust me," said Zee Mac eyed the climbing tower and swallowed nervously, but he still moved forward in the line and told the guy his size. Zee steered him towards the men's locker area, so he could change.

She waited for him and debated leaving for a few seconds until he came out of the locker wearing that skintight jumper they gave him. Her mind went blank for a few seconds and the only thoughts in there was a silent litany of, oh damn. He smirked and held out his hands to his sides as if to say I changed now what.

She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the climbing area. They waited patiently for a staff member to help harness them pulled on the provided helmets, and waited for the guy to check the lines before grabbing a hold of the first set of handholds, and footholds and starting up the tower. Mac was fine until he reached the halfway point, and was aligned with the overhead walkway, then he froze when he realized just how high up he was. He was terrified, and he still had no idea why he had let her talk him into this.

Zee hadn't really planned to spend what was supposed to be her relaxing time with Mac, but it would be rude to ditch him now, especially when he had deflected the staff's ire away from her. She thought it was adorable that he trusted her enough to admit his fears to her, but she thought it was important that he face them here in a safe environment rather than when he was doing whatever it was he did for the Phoenix Foundation.

She was only a few feet higher than him, so she climbed back down some so she was next to him. "Mac? Honey are you okay" said Zee He made a hollow laughing snort like sound which plainly meant that he wasn't okay in the slightest. "Yeah just.. give me a minute.." said Mac

He trailed off and she noticed he was clinging quite tightly to those hand holds. "Easy sweetheart, look at me, okay," said Zee She waited until he raised his eyes to do so. "I'm right here with you, I know you can do this just one hand hold at a time okay, I'm right here," said Zee Her soft tones must have gotten through to him because he started climbing again, so she followed him.

They were near the top when it happened, she had gotten a few feet ahead of him because she could tell he was handling it just fine now, so she wanted to spare his pride and let him do it on his own. She heard the metal groan, just before the whole assembly broke. Mac had been reaching for the next set of handholds when his foot slipped at the same time the assembly holding him gave away.

He started falling, and without even thinking about it Zee let go, pulled her arms in to reduce her drag, and tried frantically to catch the falling Mac. She felt her harness start to lock up, so she released the top latch, and leaned forward far enough to grab a hold of his harness right before the safety mechanism on her harness caught, just before Mac hit the ground. So she was now dangling upside down holding onto his harness with Mac just inches from the ground.

She vaguely registered the staff members queries as they pulled Mac away, all that was registering was the terrified look he wore as he fell, they righted her and she released herself from the harness. She shrugged off their protests and refused the offer of an ambulance as she went to Mac's side. The man was shaking, so she forced the group of staff members that had gathered around him back, and then she simply wrapped her arms around him until he calmed down.

"Miss are you.." said a staff member " Yes I'm fine, but can you get my boyfriend some water please," said Zee

She realized what she had just called him, as the staff member who turned out to be management, sent someone in search of a bottle of water she had requested. She knew they were mostly concerned about being sued and didn't really care about that now.

"It's all right you're safe, I've got you you're okay," said Zee, into his hair as she held onto him, and he held onto her for dear life. The staff member came back with the water and wisely set it down next to her. Gradually Mac calmed down but he was still gulping down air and now the water, still clinging to her like a frightened child.

She turned her head to see that Mac's harness attachment was now literally on the ground when it should have been what stopped him from hitting the ground not her. "Can we go somewhere else now?" said Mac "Yes, sweetheart anywhere you want to go," said Zee " I don't care so long as it's on the ground, okay," said Mac He slowly climbed to his feet and swayed somewhat.

He looked at where their harnesses were and then back at her. "You saved me?" said Mac She put her arm around his waist. "I did promise to not let you fall, now go get changed sweetheart. I think we've had enough excitement for the day" said Zee

Mac nodded and shakily made his way into the locker room. He shrugged out of the clothes and pulled on his own and was about to shove his phone in his pocket when he received a text. "Oh my god! Mac are you all right? holy shit!" said Riley "Yes, I'm fine, shaken but fine, tell everyone I'm okay," said Mac "You sure?" said Riley "Yeah I'm good, gonna go do something safer now catch you later," said Mac in answering text.

Mac shoved his phone in his pocket and then thought about what had just happened, Zee had literally just saved his ass. The only way she could have reached him in time was if she let go and free fell to catch him, she had done that for him. He was still shaking when he emerged, and Zee insisted that she drive even though she hated doing so, Mac tossed her the keys without hesitating. The woman had just saved his life it was time to start trusting her a little bit.

He fastened his seat belt and watched as she did the same. She started the car and pulled out of the parking lot. He watched her drive and wondered if she knew where she was going. She was a decent driver and he could see no reason why she didn't do so more often, well other than the lack of a car that was. He was about to ask her where they were going when she pulled into a mini-golf place.

He sighed in relief and waited until she parked to say what was on his mind. She shut off the car and started to reach for the door handle. He hit the lock button on his side to stop her as she turned back towards him to ask him a question. He leaned in and kissed her. Yeah she was essentially a stranger and this was technically their second date, but honestly, he didn't care.

He didn't know what he expected as a response but was definitely surprised that she responded to his kiss by deepening it. She even wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer. Then she brushed against the horn and it went off. She broke off the kiss and they both laughed at what had happened. She reached for the handle again until she realized he was staring at her and had stopped laughing, she turned back to regard him because he was now wearing a very serious expression. "Sorry I know you don't know me that well, but I just wanted to say thank you, thank you for keeping your word," said Mac


	6. Chapter 6

Trouble 6

Truthfully she had expected him to show up at her house or something not for him to find one of the few places that did allow her to relax completely. She assumed it was just a coincidence that he found the place maybe he even followed her home from work and simply watched the house. That train of thought unnerved her so she simply focused on what she was going to do about it. Avoiding him would be impossible, the man simply was too determined to involve her in this scheme of theirs.

It seems she would have to pull a vanishing act much sooner than expected. There was no reason she couldn't enjoy herself a bit before that happened. So she calmed down her jumps and decided to go do something else. She wanted to see how far agent boy would go to get close to her. She didn't expect him to damn near get himself killed doing so.

She didn't even think about what she was doing as she released her hands and shoved herself away from the wall in order to follow him down, in fact, she did everything in her power to move faster through the air. The safety harness would have prevented her from grabbing him, so she released it. If she hit the ground she would survive the experience, Mac would not, besides she could always use it as a way to fake her death and get out of town, though the news would devastate both Kailey and John.

All she was focused on as she fell was the look of terror on Mac's face and the front of his harness. She stretched as far as she could until she could actually feel her tendons were about to break when suddenly she felt her fingers curl under the strap. She closed her hand in reflex and pulled upwards just as her safety finally caught. She ended up hanging upside down with Mac dangling from her arm, thankfully he was relatively slender, though that by no means made him lighter. Damn, that man must be hiding some serious muscle mass under all those layers.

Alarms went off and instructors and staff members rushed to the pair. She vaguely registered someone say something about getting management and should they call nine one one, as they pulled Mac from her arms. His eyes were still wide with terror and she watched him hurl on the edge of the mat after they moved him away from the climbing area. She released herself despite the instructor's protests and moved to Mac's side. Yes, she had been planning to ditch him but that made her no less worried about the man.

He had literally faced his worst nightmare, she just hoped he could handle it. She found a crowd of well-meaning, but more annoying than helpful staff members gathered around him, so she pushed her way through the crowd. She wrapped her arms around him in a purely comforting gesture, and he clung to her. It actually felt good to be needed, and for a few minutes, she forgot how dangerous to her the man in her arms was. As she whispered reassurances into his hair she began to doubt that he was anything other than what he claimed he was.

Slowly those fears and misgivings fell to the wayside, as she took in the emotional wreck of a man cradled in her arms. This man wasn't dangerous, look at how he needs you her mind whispered, and she found herself believing the soft voices simply because she wanted to.

They left the sports center soon after simply because neither of them felt like answering a slew of questions from the local police or visiting the hospital. Mac let her drive because he was still quite visibly shaken. She briefly thought about just taking the man home, except she had no idea where his home was, and she really didn't have enough room for guests at her place.

Instead, she pulled into a mini golf place, because she figured it was both safer and could be relaxing maybe even fun. She certainly wasn't expecting for Mac to kiss her, or thank her. She had truly meant what she said earlier to him, she had no intention of letting him fall either literally or figuratively. The problem was she wasn't worried about falling herself, so she wasn't admitting that she had already started to do so.

Maybe she just wanted all this to be over. To feel something that seemed real, or else she just was simply lonely. Whatever the real reason, she responded to Mac like a dying woman grasping at whatever straws that kept her breathing. By the time she realized what she was doing; she was halfway in the man's lap, thankfully the car horn interrupted what would have been a full-on make-out session in the front seat of Mac's car.

He thought it was funny and the laughter helped to relieve the tension that was hanging in the air. He was staring at her now rather intensely and it was making her nervous, so she did something cowardly again she got out of the car before he could spout any promises she knew he couldn't keep. They made their way towards the front entrance and Mac paid both their way for eighteen holes of mini golf. He put his arm around her waist as he guided her towards the door.

"You ready to get your ass handed to you, sweetheart," said Zee Yeah she was just playing around and starting to enjoy the playful banter that had begun between them. "Oh really, you think you can beat me, do you? All right your on" said Mac The first two holes were easy and they both sank their balls with very little effort. Then the holes gradually became harder, and Mac was making eagles and holes in one, and she was in shock.

What the hell; did she just get sharked? Mac was calmer now and even seemed to be having fun now, so she threw in just a bit of friendly competition just to see if he would pull out the stops and to partially gauge his personality. After a few minutes, she decided that either Mac was a closet asshole, or he was somehow cheating at mini golf. She was about five strokes behind his score, and he was continuously sinking hole after hole, how the heck was he doing it?

She watched him; to see if he was giving away some sort of trick. When he knelt down to align a shot she finally asked what she wanted to know. "What are you doing?" said Zee "Calculating the trajectory of each given angle, so I can line up my shot,"said Mac She frowned at his answer, because he had dumbed down that statement as if he was talking to someone who wouldn't be able to understand what he was saying. "So you're using math, that's your big secret?" said Zee

Even though Zee could do essentially the same thing, she wanted to appear dumber than she actually was, it would make Mac and anyone who might be with him underestimate her. "You could do it too its not that hard, I could show you" said Mac "Naw, I suck at math, I came to play a game not take lessons" said Zee "All right suit yourself, but loser buys dinner"said Mac Even though she could most likely match Mac, if she employed the same methods, she didn't really want to make what should be fun into something complicated.

"That's not fair you're supposed to wager before the other party is losing, that way they still think they can win," said Zee He smiled at her then sank his fifth eagle in a row. "All's fair in love and war sweetheart," said Mac She snorted at him and gave him a half-hearted glare before taking her shot, missing it, and taking it again three more times.

She was glad they didn't wager anything on this game. He sank the last hole and waited while she finished her five or six shots to get the ball in the last hole. "Tell you what I'll go in for halfsies for dinner if I get to choose the restaurant," said Mac She snorted "you chose the last restaurant and I still say you were cheating," said Zee He actually looked offended.

"I was not cheating I can't help it if.." said Mac "If your opponent was too stupid to do the math," said Zee He frowned at her response and stopped walking. "You're not stupid Zee, please don't say things like that about yourself. You're a beautiful, talented and very bright young lady and I could never do what you do. I honestly don't have an artistic bone in my body, even my cooking skills suck. So please don't disparage yourself" said Mac

She gave him a strange look because she wasn't sure how to react to such a heartfelt sentiment. "Okay um..wow.. alright didn't think it would offend you so badly," said Zee He smiled at her and moved closer to her. "It's alright, just don't do it anymore, and I promise that I will try to remember that sometimes the things I say can come off as kind of insulting when I do not mean them to be," said Mac

She honestly didn't know how to respond to that other than to agree so she simply nodded. "Sorry didn't mean to go so serious on you, I barely know you but.," said Mac she stopped his protests with a kiss and then turned to put the putter on the counter, Mac set his next to hers and they left the mini golf place. "So your place or mine?" said Mac He was teasing, or at least she hoped he was because she wasn't quite ready to get to that point just yet.

"Ah?' said Zee He chuckled at the look on her face. "Ah that came out wrong, what I meant was, do you want me to drop you off at your place first, and then just pick you up later, or do you want to just meet me somewhere again?" said Mac

She shrugged she had no problem with Mac knowing where she lived, it's not like she was ashamed of the house or anything. Besides she was fairly certain he already knew its location. "Err.. yeah sure," said Zee Then she rattled off her address and gave him directions to find her house. Which he did with no problem at all; even though her directions sucked, purposefully.

He pulled into their small driveway and parked. "Do you want me to wait out here or?" said Mac She got out of the car and motioned for him to follow her. She glanced up and down the street, didn't spot the car from earlier and unlocked her door, slid her hand into the door, and lifted the small wire that turned off the recording device she had planted after she realized that someone had been in her house the night before.

She walked in and Mac followed her into the house. She re-hooked the wire when his back was to her and restarted the camera. She walked over to the closet and grabbed something off of the hanger and headed for the bathroom to change. "Ah just take a seat I'll be right out," said Zee

The choice of mini-golf was relaxing and it enabled him to put aside what had happened earlier and to think. To be honest, he was having a bit of a crisis of conscience. What they were doing to this woman was wrong, and it was something that had always bothered him about the job, so now he needed to find a way to not only get what his boss wanted but also to make sure she didn't get killed, because of their actions.

He honestly hadn't even realized that he was trouncing her so thoroughly while they played, because he was so into his head that he just automatically did what he did when it came to minor problems, solve them without really thinking about them. He only came to his senses when she accused him of cheating.

He had explained like he always did and even offered to show her how to do it herself. She had worn a look that could only be described as insulted, which she promptly confirmed it by her comment so he quickly apologized, and attempted to diffuse her hurt feelings.

He had been genuinely upset that she saw herself that way and rushed to reassure her, that no she wasn't stupid. He couldn't tell her how impressed he was at her ability to remain so thoroughly under the radar, that one of the best hackers on the planet was having fits just trying to find out information on her. He ended up talking her into dinner and she gave him directions to her house.

He quickly realized that she either had the worst sense of direction he had ever seen, or she was deliberately trying to get him lost. In the end, he turned where she said to and backtracked until he found her house. He pulled into the driveway and suggested that he wait in the car until she waved him inside. He took a seat on the small couch. He looked around the small house and noted there appeared to be only one room.

He also noticed the small trip wire by the door and followed it with his eyes to a camera in the corner of a bookshelf. Yeah not stupid at all, considering that would take some serious rigging and some knowledge of electronics. He leaned back on the couch and noticed the glint of metal under the coffee table. With a quick glance at the bathroom door, he carefully pried free what was under the table. It turned out to be a small knife the size of a throwing knife. It was quite sharp and unsheathed which to him meant it was there to be used if an opponent somehow got her on the ground near the couch.

He was starting to put it back when he realized she was already out of the bathroom and standing silently on the other side of the room. "Find anything interesting MacGyver?" said Zee He opted to play the confused boyfriend card. "Ah yeah, why do you have a knife under your coffee table?" said Mac She shrugged and walked closer. "It's for my protection, I sleep in the living room," said Zee She was staring at him as if picking apart his responses to her answers. Mac frowned at her answer.

"Ah, why do you sleep in the living room?" said Mac "There's only one room and the lease is in Kailey's name," said Zee He frowned at her response because it actually seemed reasonable. She was eyeing him suspiciously, and that was the exact opposite of a response he was trying to elicit.

"Oh okay, why?" said Mac "That's what we agreed on, everything in her name so they don't have to run my seriously messed up credit, and I pay her so she can cover the bills, we split everything 50/50," said Zee

It seemed reasonable, and if he didn't know it was done for an alternative reason then he probably wouldn't have thought twice about her explanation, but since she was starting to get suspicious he should probably let it go for now. "Cool I have a similar arrangement with my roommate Bozer, but our place is a bit bigger," said Mac She shrugged. "Its what we could afford, L.A. ain't cheap," said Zee

He nodded in understanding then finally took in her outfit, and completely forgot how to talk for a few seconds. She was wearing a little black dress, emphasis on the little part and some high heels. The dress was low cut in the front, and the skirt showed a generous amount of leg. Mac swallowed nervously in an effort to find his voice.

"Um.. you ready?" said Mac His voice cracked some, so he cleared his throat. "Yep," said Zee She reached for her purse on the hook by the door, and Mac swallowed again because the back of the dress was open in the back. The dress stopped just above her butt, showing him that she wasn't wearing a bra with the outfit, and unless her underwear were paper thin she wasn't wearing those either.

He mentally groaned and hoped he wasn't already showing his reaction to her physically, as he proceeded her out the door.

He did notice that she re-hooked the trip wire again as they left, and he kept ahead of her so his body wouldn't react to the way her hips swayed when she walked. He quickly killed the direction of those thoughts, before he had to adjust his pants in front of her. He quickly climbed into the cab and glanced in her direction to get a flash, he gulped and turned his attention to the front of the car, but he still caught the slight smirk now gracing her features.

He pulled out of her driveway went a few blocks, used the freeway as a shortcut, exited the highway and turned down his street. He pulled into his driveway, and she climbed out with him. She waited patiently while he unlocked the door and disarmed a security system before following him inside.

She knew he was probably checking out her place while she was in the bathroom and yes she chose her outfit just to mess with him. She even left off the undergarments just to see his reaction. It was a distraction technique to be sure, and yes she was fighting dirty, but he did trounce her in mini golf without batting an eye. She silently opened the bathroom door and found him pulling one of her blades out from under the table. He was examining it as she silently stepped out of the room.

She watched as he followed her camera set up and watched his facial expressions, yeah he was going to be a problem. So she interrupted what he was going to do next which most likely was going to be some snooping, by letting him know she was in the room.

When she got home later, she would make sure he didn't place any surveillance equipment in her house. Mac's house was nice, he definitively wasn't kidding about the size comment. She was fairly certain her whole apartment, both now and before this life, could fit in his living room. Yeah, he was most definitely working for the government or doing something illegal on the side.

She had paused in the living room to look around and noticed Mac was still standing there staring at her for some reason. "Aren't you going to get ready?" said Zee "Ah yeah..um sorry... I was just thinking that you're the prettiest thing in this room right now... I um..er sorry, I know that's cheesy but.." said Mac

She was smirking at him and he once again lost the ability to talk. He put his hand on the back of his neck and nervously laughed. "Feel free to explore... I'm just... yeah I'll be out in a minute" said Mac She watched him disappear down the hallway and set out to do exactly what he had suggested.

She noted there appeared to be some sort of weird mechanical sculptures all around the house, and some rather odd decorations like a seriously creepy George Washington mask. She moved through the kitchen wondering where someone like Mac would keep his badge or gun.

She stepped out the patio doors and noted the really cool fire-pit before stepping back inside. She could hear the shower running and wondered if Mac knew that the sound didn't really mask what he was doing in there. She grinned wickedly, and walked around the room slowly again, this time checking out his bookshelves and noting that the man had a TV but it was covered in dust like he never watched it. She was checking out one of the strange sculptures when someone behind her whispered.

"Hot Damn!" said Bozer She turned and set the strange device back on the shelf, to find another guy standing behind her."Oh you must be Mac's roommate.. ah?" said Zee "Bozer and you are?" said Bozer "Zee and she's my date," said Mac

They both turned towards the sound of his voice. Mac was standing there, freshly showered his hair still a bit damp wearing a black button down and matching black jeans. He was also currently glaring down his friend.

"Hey Mac didn't hear you come in, so your Zee ah nice to meet you... I'll be over at Jack's if you need me" said Bozer He headed for the door, mouthed another near silent damn, before walking out the door.

"Sorry about that, Bozer is usually not like that," said Mac She chuckled and moved closer to him, she could smell his cologne from across the room, and it was a heady delicious scent. He must be fighting dirty back, all right agent boy game on. "It's all right I'm not offended," said Zee


	7. Chapter 7

Trouble 7

He gave her a considering look and glanced at the bookshelf behind her. One of the sculptures was moved, and he was glad she had chosen to investigate that one instead of the one at the end that was wired to a surveillance system that Bozer didn't even know was there. It was a precaution he took after Murdoc invaded his home the last time. One time was one visit too many from that man.

She must have been snooping through his things when Bozer interrupted her, she was stealthy about it though because everything except that sculpture was in the same space it had been in before he left the room.

Jack was bored and about ready to throttle his target for being such a boring asshole. As Jack sat there munching on his chips and sipping on the big gulp he got, he noticed a car sitting across the street watching the same house. A car that looked suspiciously like it belonged to government agents. He calmly shot off a text to Riley about the second vehicle, complete with a set of plates, and then went back to what he was doing. Riley texted back the details and that it was registered to the FBI.

"Interesting" murmured Jack. He sat there and watched until about three am when John decided he had somewhere he needed to be. "He's leaving, doesn't appear to have the package"said Jack "Wait until he's completely gone, then break in Jack, and take a pic of those id's, but leave them there, oh and the agent in that other car just ran your plates"said Matti "Their agent just took off after John, going in"said Jack Then he closed his phone set his drink down and snuck into John's house through a window that didn't have a latch.

The place was an absolute pigsty. Jack wrinkled his nose in disgust as he removed the remains of a baloney sandwich, and some seriously crispy underwear off of the envelope he thought contained the ids, which was currently sitting on the couch. Jack thumbed through the papers and took photos of everything, especially Zee's information then he returned the contents to the envelope and re-positioned the items back on top of them before he snuck back out of the house.

He had seriously considered using John's bathroom because he really had to take a piss now, but just the state of the living room had him rethinking his plans because, in all honesty, he had seen cleaner bathrooms in rest stops. He sent the images off to Riley and waited until daybreak for John to return. When the man didn't, and instead went to Zee's place according to Riley. Matti told him to go home and get some shut eye.

Riley was staring at her screen still trying to make sense of what she was seeing or rather wasn't. Until Zee had dropped off the car she was completely off the radar. Even facial recognition was coming up with nada. So far the only possibilities it had found thus far turned out to be dead people, this time with actual graves and death certificates. Riley wanted to scream she was so frustrated, then go over find Mac's new girlfriend and throttle the woman for being so damn paranoid.

She watched as the woman snooped through Mac's house and then put anything she moved right back where mac had it. "What the hell is she looking for?" said Riley "My guess would be a gun or a badge or something," said Bozer Riley snorted "Well then I wish her as much luck as I had finding out who she is," said Riley "Still no luck huh?" said Bozer

Riley groaned and leaned back in her chair tossing yet another empty coffee cup into her wastebasket. "No, the only two I found that could be close were dead, and one of them was cremated so we can't even check if it's the right person"said Riley "and the other one?" said Bozer "Just some mousy looking doctor chick, that according to the coroner's reports died of massive chest trauma when the vehicle she was riding in hit a tree doing fifty, no way she walked away from that" said Riley

"Doctor huh, yeah that does not sound like Zee at all," said Bozer Riley was glaring at her screen as if it was responsible for her current level of frustration. "Yeah it doesn't, can you believe that dress? Seriously she's just messing with Mac" said Riley, with a snort. Bozer gave her a considering look.

"That sounded just a bit jealous, you want to talk about something?" said Bozer Riley shook her head "I ain't into mac that way, I just don't like that she's toying with him and he's letting her," said Riley She stood up and started walking away. "Hey where are you going?" said Bozer "To get more coffee, I have a feeling this is going to be an all niter," said Riley

Bozer turned back to the screen in time to see Mac hold his arm out to Zee and lead her down their walkway to his car. Bozer switched on the audio for the car. "So where are we going?" said Zee Mac smiled at her query. "It's a surprise," said Mac

He knew right where he intended to take her. Phoenix had taken over one of the nicest restaurants in town, with agents posing as waiters even and Matti made sure their names were on the reservations list.

The whole place had been wired for sound while Mac and Zee had been spending the day together and Riley was already in their camera system. Now all they had to do was wait for the couple. Mac turned down rodeo drive and Zee gave him a strange look because there were no diners or cheeseburger joints on this side of town. Most everything on this side of town was well over her price range, but obviously not out of his. He pulled up to one of the swankier ones and waited in line for the valet to take their place had a longer waiting list than her appointment book.

Zee was eyeing the place with trepidation, this was definitely not what she expected and it was clear Mac was pulling out all the stops now in an effort to impress her. At the moment she kind of was impressed, though she did wonder if this was partly his bosses idea. It was now their turn and Mac climbed out of the car and handed his keys to the man at the valet station. Zee followed him out and rounded the car to stand at his side. She gave Mac a sideways glance as if asking are you sure about this, he simply smiled and led her towards the door. He gave his name to the man and after a few seconds, the man led them inside.

She stared at her surroundings. People were eating off of what looked like bone china drinking from crystal glasses and using what looked like gold tableware to eat. The food was small portions of food laid out on the plate like it was simply decorating the plate. She resolved to throw a pizza in the oven after she got home because there was no way anything she eats here will fill her up.

The waiter led them to a table along one wall. She sat facing the wall, so she didn't give anyone here an unintentional show, on the opposite side of the table from Mac. He seemed relaxed and very calm as he took his seat as if he dined like this all the time. She wondered if now would be a bad time to bring up the fact that if he intended to split the bill, that there was still no way she could afford to pay her way.

"Relax, I'm paying for everything I was only kidding about splitting the bill," said Mac A waiter walked up to his elbow. "Would you care for some champagne sir?"said the waiter Zee opened her mouth to protest him drinking, because he was the one driving. "yes, please and a glass for my date as well" said Mac "Very good sir, we'll bring that right out"said the waiter She frowned at his assumption that he could order for her again. "Sorry forgot to ask if you wanted some again, I swear I'll remember next time," said Mac

The waiter returned with the wine, uncorked the bottle, poured them glasses and left menus then quietly left again. Mac took a sip of his and watched her do the same. She picked up one of the menus and glanced it over. The first thing she noted was there were no prices listed anywhere, the second was that most of these dishes were comprised of ingredients she had never even heard of, like Quinoa, what the heck was that?

The only ingredients she understood were the steak and chicken. Mac seemed to understand what he was reading with no effort, which to her meant he either had a very varied diet or he was very well traveled. She was willing to bet whatever this meal was going to cost that it was the latter. He set the menu down and turned his attention to her. She wasn't sure what he planned to say to her but fortunately one of her friends interrupted him.

"Zee? It is you, my you look lovely this evening. Thank god I found you, I went by your work and Kailey said you were out with your new boyfriend. I wasn't sure when you would resurface, you are so hard to find sometimes mi-ha" said Raoul Zee frowned she had told Kailey nothing of the sort, as far as the woman knew Zee was actively avoiding Mac, not trying to spend time with him.

Raoul turned and looked over Mac who promptly held out his hand and introduced himself. "So you're the mysterious MacGyver, nice to meet you," said Raoul Zee wanted to hide because this was the worst thing that could have happened.

"So why were you trying to find me?" said Zee Interrupting what Mac was going to say because the man was being entirely too charming for his own good. "As you know my Maria is turning seven and Rosa wished me to invite you, the party is tomorrow, feel free to bring the boyfriend," said Raoul

Before Zee could protest the invite Mac responded for both of them. "We would love to attend," said Mac "Great, it's at the hacienda, I'll see you there," said Raoul Then he headed for the door with a couple of his business associates tagging close behind. Zee silently swore to herself, this was horrible now she knew that it had been Mendoza that Mac and his friends were after all along because she doubted it was a coincidence that he chose the one restaurant that Mendoza frequented with some of his clientele.

She also caught a couple of the waiters and waitresses paying a little too close of attention to Mendoza, both when he had been seated and when he left the restaurant. So that was his game feign like he was going to wine and dine her just so he could tag along to the party. Which she couldn't bow out of without hurting both Rosa's and her daughter Maria's feelings. In short, she felt used and for a few minutes debated just throwing Mac under the bus and letting him fend for himself when Mendoza's goons came a knocking.

The waitress interrupted her train of thought and what she was about to say to Mac regarding his actions. "Are you two ready to order or would you like more time?" said the waitress "Actually I'll have the chicken," said Zee She pointed to the menu entry because she honestly could not pronounce the rest of the dish's name. The woman smiled and noted down the name of the dish and then turned her attention to Mac " I'll have the same" said Mac The woman jotted down his order retrieved the menu's and retreated.

"It's pronounced paella, I take it you know Mr. Mendoza very well?" said Mac Zee shrugged and opted to remind Mac that Mendoza had a family. "He's a client, his wife and I are good friends and his daughter thinks of me as an aunt," said Zee Mac smiled at her, but she could see by the look in his eyes that he understood what she was trying to say with that statement.

Mac understood what she was trying to do the second she stepped out wearing that..dress. He had to admit it was an effective tactic and most likely would have worked had he not been burned by similar ruses played by some equally beautiful women before Zee. Of course, those women had tried to kill him, hurt him or simply were on the wrong side, Zee was not. At least not that he was aware of.

Matti had green lit his plan the night before, and more than likely the restaurant was ready by now. He stepped into the shower because he wanted to wash the sweat off his person thanks to what happened earlier. He rested his hands on the sink when they started to shake again. Without that woman in his living room right now he would be dead. He let that sink in and ground him, even though Matti had pointed out the same thing earlier.

He still didn't know if he had the courage to watch the video of the incident, no matter what Matti suggested. In fact, the choice of venue tonight was partially because Mendoza frequented it, and the other half was because Matti had all but ordered him to pull out all the stops with this woman. This night out was as close to saying thank you that Matti could get right now. According to Matti oversight said they would okay the budget for this evening no questions asked, which as far as Mac knew had never happened before.

As far as Matti was concerned this woman was a potential asset,which was pretty much company talk for recruit this woman now. In all honesty, he had no problem with that what so ever, because the alternative was to never see her again if she testified. If however, Mac got the information without her, then there would be no reason for the FBI to relocate her and they could recruit her. Which meant he wouldn't lose her, which was all the more reason to not lose this little challenge of hers.

He ran his hands through his hair, yeah he needed a bath and to take care of something before he went back out there. Zee was playing dirty, so it was time to respond in kind.

Matti wanted him to pull out the stops, so time to pile on that old MacGyver charm. He smirked at himself in the mirror then turned on the shower, while he waited for the water to heat up his thoughts turned back to Zee, and how wonderful it would be if she was showering with him. His body responded to that vivid mental image, and he quickly stepped into the shower to take care of it, hoping the sound of running water would mask what he was doing because he really didn't want her to know how easy it was for her to get under his skin.

When he was done he chose the one cologne in his arsenal that made every girl in the office turn their heads, and then he chose an outfit that did the same. He walked out of the room adjusting the cuff links on his black button down. He watched for a few seconds while Bozer all but hit on his date, not that he blamed his friend one bit. If he didn't have to do this for a mission, he wasn't sure he would even have the courage to approach someone who looked like Zee. She certainly shook his confidence that was for sure, but she also inspired it a bit as well. He just didn't understand her but he wanted to.

He may have come off as a bit harsh to Bozer, but he had felt a bit of irrational jealousy, which he felt bad about afterward. He would have to apologize to the man when he got home. Bozer bowed out of the room with a wistful look at Zee's backside and a hurt look at Mac's answering glare. Which he tried to soften just a bit so as to not hurt his friend's feelings.

Hopefully, Bozer understood that he wasn't trying to hurt his feelings. He did seem to get the hint when he made plans to join Riley at the Phoenix, which he conveyed by saying he was going to Jack's. They clasped hands and Mac gave his friend a look that plainly meant that he was sorry.

Bozer nodded and headed for the door and Mac held out his arm to Zee and led her back to the jeep. She had asked where they were going and he conveyed that it was a surprise, which forced her to trust him just a little bit. Though she gave him a considering look she had relented and seemed to give him that little bit of trust. He pulled onto rodeo and he noticed she was now wearing a worried and almost anxious look. He knew he was pulling her out of her comfort zone and yes he wanted to see how far he could push her because she had already done the same to him.

He pulled up to the valet and handed over his keys, she hesitated for a second before following him out of the car. He could tell she was nervous and possibly rethinking her choice of outfits or rather the lack of a few things just by the way she clung to his arm. When she had told him that she didn't really date when they had first met, he hadn't believed her, until this moment.

He watched her look around the room like a wide-eyed child. Just her reaction told him she had never left the country and that she either grew up poor or in a working middle-class family, she certainly had never been around anyone who had money.

Which made him wonder how she had made friends with people like Mendoza. He had been about to ask her about her childhood when Mendoza interrupted his thoughts.

The man was obviously trying to find Zee because until they had entered the man had been in the corner calmly eating and talking with his associates. Though he did note that Cage was the one serving their table. Mac noted that the guys with Mendoza were some of the men listed in Matti's files as his weapons contacts, and they were nodding like they were agreeing to something.

One of them stood up and that is when Mendoza must have spotted Zee.

He immediately stood up and walked over to their table like he owned the place, and put his hand on Zee's shoulder. Mac tensed slightly because, to be honest, he didn't like how familiar the man was with Zee. He decidedly didn't like this man, and it wasn't just the almost possessive air that he gave off when it came to Zee. He even was still resting his hand on Zee's shoulder when Mac introduced himself, and it did surprise Mac that Mendoza had already heard his name, that was until he mentioned talking to Zee's roommate.

He did, however, note the confused look on Zee's face, so he was right she had been avoiding him. Mac turned on the charm, and when he started to ask the man a question, Zee promptly interrupted him and asked why he was looking for her. That is when Mendoza tendered his invite to his child's birthday party. Mac could see that Zee was hesitating, and he guessed that it was caused by his presence, so he responded to the invitation in the affirmative for the both of them.

Though he did agree with Mendoza's assessment, Zee was a very hard woman to find. Zee had given him a glare of reproach, but he was certain it was because he had once again made a choice for her. She seemed to value her independence quite a bit, and Mac had to admit he did keep stepping on that just a bit, he really needed to stop doing that preferably before he offended her enough that she left.

As soon as Mendoza left, and Mac was sure that both the man and his associates were well out of earshot. He asked what was on his mind, how she knew the man. Her response was a bit defensive and he could guess what she was trying to say with that statement, mostly that she didn't want her friend to get hurt.

He felt slightly bad that she was close enough to Mendoza's family that they regarded her as family, it would make what they had to do hurt more, and he honestly regretted that.

He wanted to change the subject, but at the same time, he wanted to know where she stood on this. "Did you not wish to attend?" said Mac She sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Yes I do, I just honestly forgot that it was coming up,"said Zee "I'm such a horrible Aunt," said Zee He smiled at her. "No you're not, you got busy.. it happens"said Mac She took another sip of her wine and Mac had noticed that she was almost finished with the glass.

He had slipped something into his to keep from getting drunk, but it was obvious by her actions that she was starting to feel the wine. He smirked ever so slightly because hopefully, it would lower her defenses enough that he would finally get some information out of her. The waiter once again came to the table this time to deliver the food, finally.

She knew he was trying to worm his way past her defenses, simply by the fact that he wasn't really drinking that alcohol that he ordered. If she didn't know any better she would assume that he was simply trying to get her drunk enough so he could get laid, not that he would have to. She had already resolved to let agent boy have a little, just so he trusted her a bit more. It would make her redirecting him at the party tomorrow just a little bit easier, especially if she took advantage of his easy to distract nature by bringing her swimsuit.

Mendoza's hacienda had an awesome pool as well as a dock. If Mac overstepped too much she could always ask Raoul if she could borrow the boat, and have a little heart to heart out on the open water where no one else would hear it. She was paying closer attention than he thought she was because she saw him squeeze that eyedropper full of gods knew what into his drink. If you planned to roofie someone, weren't you supposed to drug their drink not your own? Just what was this man up to?

He challenged her to say something about attending the party, and she played it off as simple embarrassment because in truth she had forgotten that Rosa had invited her to her child's party mostly because the child saw Zee as the really cool Aunt and she did feel guilty for forgetting Maria's party.

She did, however, know exactly what Mac was really asking if she minded if he came to the party. She did, but unfortunately, she couldn't say anything without giving everything away and she knew that he knew that as well.

Though she was far from feeling any reaction to the wine, she would have to down a keg for it to do anything, she pretended to be feeling it. Once the food was delivered she dug into it without really looking at the plate. She honestly did not care what the food looked like so long as it tasted good. Her fork hit something hard on the plate and she looked down. She immediately wanted to barf because what she hit was a snail shell. Mac was calmly eating his but must have noticed the look on her face.

"Everything okay?" said Mac He was slightly smirking at her horrified look. "Ah yeah, is this supposed to come with garden pests?" said Zee, softly Mac chuckled at her response and she glared angrily back, this wasn't funny. "Just eat around them or try them," said Mac He was still smirking at her discomfort, the asshole. He was watching her so she did simply eat around them while carefully shoving the offensive things off the plate and into her napkin. She was definitely having some pizza or a cheeseburger when she got home.

Mac was obviously trying to keep from laughing at her, as she did what every little kid did when met with vegetables on their plate, hide them so she didn't have to eat them. He shook his head and drank some of his wine. He was almost done with his plate and he noticed that she had stopped watching him eat as soon as she spotted the snails.

"So what should we get her?" said Mac Zee frowned at his question, just what would she get Maria? It was late, so most of the stores were likely to be closed. "Ah.. honestly I don't know," said Zee "I mean she used to be into dolls and race cars, but I don't know if she still is, I should probably just call Rosa and ask," said Zee Mac gave her a slightly surprised look. "You have their phone number?" said Mac "Ah yeah, we're friends I have the phone numbers of all of my clients why?" said Zee Mac just shook his head.

"No reason," said Mac She pulled her phone out and scrolled through her contacts and hit the call button. Whoever was on the other end picked up and then Zee started speaking Spanish into the phone. Mac stared at her in shock as she had an entire conversation in another language with the same level of fluency as a native speaker.

She finally said goodbye and turned back to Mac. He was wearing a confused expression on his face, but she would be willing to bet he had understood that entire conversation. "So what did she say?" said Mac


	8. Chapter 8

Trouble 8

As soon as Zee said that she had the phone numbers of all of her clients on her phone, he resolved to palm it from her as soon as he could. He was surprised at her level of fluency in another language because she had given no indication that she spoke any other languages. Even though he knew exactly what she had said, he had only heard her side of the conversation, so he asked what the other woman had said.

"She's into unicorns and rockets of all things and keeps trying to talk her dad into a cat," said Zee Mac shook his head. "Strange combination," said Mac The waiter delivered the check, and she watched Mac slide a silver card into the bill folder without opening it to even look at the total. The waiter took the bill folder to the front, rang up their bill and then brought Mac back his card.

He slowly climbed to his feet shoved the card back in his wallet. She was shoving her phone back into her purse and doing the same. She swayed a bit more when she walked and Mac steadied her with a hand on her elbow as they made their way out the door.

She was acting just a bit goofy and slightly giggly while they waited for the valet to fetch their car. The valet arrived with their car and Mac escorted her to the opposite side of the car and helped her climb inside before returning to the driver's side. He climbed in swiftly, started the car and pulled out onto the road. They soon realized it was too late to get anything now when Mac pulled into the parking lot of a Target just in time to see an employee lock the front door.

"Well this is just great," said Mac Zee was standing off to one side looking depressed. "We can always try first thing in the morning," said Mac Zee had her head tilted like she was listening to something, then she suddenly shushed him, and started walking towards the side of the building.

"What are you.." said Mac "Shush..did you hear that?" said Zee Frowning Mac followed her when he heard what it was she was hearing. It sounded like a kitten mewing. They both followed the sound to some trash cans. It seemed to be coming from one of the cans, so Zee climbed up on the side to peer inside.

Mac turned on the flashlight on his key chain and climbed up on the other side of the dumpster and shined the flashlight into the dumpster looking for the source of the sound. Zee spotted something move in the far corner.

"There," said Zee, pointing to the far right corner before hooking her leg over the edge, and climbing inside the dumpster.

Mac let out a curse word when he realized his date was intending to dig through trash from inside the dumpster and climbed in with her when he finally spotted what she was looking for. She was moving boxes and debris, so he did the same and found the source of the sound, a box containing three kittens.

He handed the box to Zee then climbed partially out of the dumpster. She handed the box back to him and climbed out after him. They carried their find out into the light and opened the box the rest of the way. What they found were three nearly newborn kittens.

"Oh, the poor things," said Zee The small creatures were mewing and trying to climb the sides of the box.

"They're very young," said Mac "Yeah they are, I wonder what happened to their mama?" said Zee Mac got this sad look on his face, and then picked up the box, and headed back to the car. They put the box between them and Mac found a pharmacy that was open late.

They went inside, bought pet formula, and some eye droppers then headed back to Mac's place. Zee cleaned them up in his kitchen sink while Mac made some sort of gravity feeder out of some spice jars, and the eye droppers.

He rigged it up on the side of the box after filling it with formula, while Zee added some of his kitchen towels to the box to help keep them warm. Zee handed him one of the small creatures. Mac helped her to dry them off, and warm up some before returning them to the box so they could eat. The kittens ate their fill, then curled up to sleep all huddled in the towels.

When Zee handed Mac the kitten Riley took a screenshot, because it was just such an adorable image that she couldn't resist. The couple watched the kittens for a few seconds then Zee leaned forward and kissed Mac.

"That is so cute, that is so going to be my new screen saver," said Riley, as she saved the picture of Mac holding a kitten to her home screen.

Zee started for his bathroom and Riley noted that Mac followed her inside, because the woman was slowly stripping as she walked. So Riley turned off the cameras because she didn't really need to know that about her friend.

Zee kicked the heels off as she made her way to the sink, and they worked together to help the poor little kittens that they had found survive. It was such a touching moment that Zee leaned forward to kiss Mac. After they were done with the kittens, Zee realized that it was too late to go home now, so she opted to clean up, and sleep here for the night.

Mac followed her to the bathroom but they stopped halfway there to make out and partially strip each other before entering the bathroom. They continued the make-out session in the restroom and then went full scale in Mac's shower, before making their way to the bed, and doing it again. They fell asleep curled around each other.

Jack went back to the Phoenix the next day because it was Cage's turn to take over for him, while he tailed Zee's roommate Kailey. "well?" said Matti, as Riley filed into the room yawning. "It worked, she spent the night at his house," said Riley "and John spent the night at hers, he's doing the roommate," said Jack He flopped down in a chair and noticed the screen on Riley's computer. "Since when did Mac get a cat?" said Jack

"They rescued some dumpster kittens last night and then spent the rest of the night... well you know," said Riley She blushed because she had caught the beginning of that make out session."Go, Mac, about damn time" said Jack

"Well regardless of our agents successful..love life... I fielded a call this morning. It seems that Zee's boss is in the FBI's crosshairs and they requested that we not interfere with their investigation, I had to reassure them that we were not after the same person, so they would leave us alone as well. I had to agree to share any information that we obtain on John too, so if miss Zee gets chatty record it" said Matti "Got it" said Riley

"Anyways today is the party, and I want eyes on Mac"said Matti "Already on it have several of our people on the catering staff, Cage your one of those people and Jack will be delivering the cake"said Riley "Great, Riley I want the cameras inside Mendoza's compound and satellite feeds of the whole area"said Matti "Already set up, the only thing we're waiting on is Mac"said Riley "and Zee"said Bozer Riley snorted "Yeah her too, whatever her name is" said Riley

Zee rolled over and hit something with her hand. Frowning she blinked one eye open, there wasn't anything next to the couch, so what the hell did she hit? Someone moaned slightly and shifted next to her. She lifted herself up slightly and tried to get her bearings, where was she?

She tried to remember what happened last night. It took her a few minutes then she remembered agent boy and she had rescued some kittens last night. She spent the night at his house after they, made love several times.

She must have given in to her urges when she realized Mac wasn't going to take advantage of her no matter how drunk she pretended to be. He appeared to be a genuinely good man and showed her many qualities that she would normally look for in a guy, too bad she still felt like the whole evening was planned.

She silently slid out of the bed and retrieved her clothes before retreating to his restroom to dress. She had half a mind to simply head home and then show up at the party without him. Raoul didn't know who he had invited with her last night, and she honestly didn't want to set up her friend that way by bringing what was most likely a fed to his door.

She exited the restroom and headed for the living room to find her shoes. With any luck, she could be out of here and on the way home before he wakes. She found one of them by the door, but not the other one, frowning she started searching.

"Looking for this?" said Mac He was standing in the doorway holding up her missing heel. She mentally cursed, so much for that plan. "Yeah thanks," said Zee She took the heel from his hands and put it on her foot. She looked up and then seemed to notice for the first time that not only was agent boy standing there in nothing but his birthday suit, but he had quite a few scars. Definitely not something you would get working for a think tank. It only served to attest just how little she knew about the man she had slept with just last night.

"We could go get breakfast, and I can drop you off at your place to change for the party,"said Mac She wasn't sure if he was suggesting it or simply telling her what he intended to all honesty she was having just a bit of trouble just concentrating with him standing there like that. He smirked as if guessing the direction her thoughts were taking.

"or we could do something else if you like," said Mac She smirked back and toed the shoes back off again.

Cage was sitting outside Zee's place waiting for both John, and the roommate to leave. The door to her house opened and John walked out, he was pulling on his jacket as he walked. The roommate Kailey followed John out, kissed him after he had mounted his bike. The woman was still wearing pajamas so Cage waited for her to go back inside and change.

When it took her just a little too long, Cage got out of her car and snuck around to the side of the house. She watched Kailey retrieve what looked like a recording device out from under the couch, and head for her room.

Curious Cage picked the lock and entered the house. Snuck down the hall and listened in at the door. "Yeah I've got everything we need to bust them, he gave me the fake ID's last night and I know who he is using, I'm certain we can get him to roll. He has family that's trying to stay legally, all we have to do is facilitate it" said Kailey

Cage raised an eyebrow, that sounded like a conversation you have with a handler.

She started to reach for her gun and the door to the room suddenly opened. Kailey was standing there with a gun drawn pointing it at Cage.

"Let me call you back," said Kailey She hit the hang up button on her screen without even looking, and shoved it into her pocket with one hand.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my house and watching it?" said Kailey "Ah hi, I'm Cage and I think your boss may have talked to mine," said Cage Kailey let out a groan. "Phoenix?" said Kailey Cage simply nodded and Kailey lowered her weapon.

"You need to stop watching the house, John won't notice it but Zee is paranoid enough to notice, she's already spotted your tail," said Kailey "What gives with her anyways, why is she so..distrusting?" said Cage

Kailey sighed and shoved her hair out of her eyes and motioned for Cage to enter the room. "If she shows, we met at the festival," said Kailey "festival?" said Cage "Burning man, we go every year, Zee mostly for the Wiccan aspect and well to party. I've brought all kinds of..friends home from there, she won't question it" said Kailey

"But she will question being followed?" said Cage "Ah yeah and your guy Mac's interest in her as well, girls good enough at profiling people she should be working for the BAU," said Kailey

Cage let out a few swear words because their worst fears had been true. "So his cover is most likely blown already," said Cage "Yeah pretty sure it is, but it's not his fault. As I said, she's paranoid always has been, she said someone was trying to kill her. Unfortunately, she won't give me her real name so I can check out her story. I do know she insists that any packages we receive go to a P.O. box, not the house, and won't have anything in her name even the fake ones she uses. I assumed she was worried about bombs and didn't really question it" said Kailey

Cage frowned at the news, this was worse than she thought. "Did she say who they were, or why they were trying to kill her?" said Cage Kailey shook her head no. "I've lived with her for two years, and there are still so many things I do not know about her. Not her real name, where she grew up, nothing but what John told me when I first met her in Vegas. She literally doesn't talk about herself" said Kailey

"So you met in Las Vegas?" said Cage "Yeah, I was supposed to infiltrate John's operation and get enough information on him to bust him in Las Vegas, but he's gotten a bit more paranoid since he met her. If I didn't know any better I would say she's in on the whole thing" said Kailey

"but she's not?" said Cage

"No, like I said just paranoid, and terrified of whoever sent her running in the first place," said Kailey Cage sighed Mac was definitively going to try to help her if that was the case. "What are your plans for her, when you're finished with John?" said Cage

Kailey sighed "Originally we were going to see if she would flip on him by dangling a reduced sentence in front of her, but the only thing we have on her is using a false id, we can't even bust her for tax evasion, because she pays them under her false identity, now we aren't sure and I know she's gearing up to run"said Kailey

"I take it you're boss had similar plans to mine?" said Kailey "yeah, but we have doubts that it will work," said Cage Kailey started to reply when her phone chimed indicating a text message. She pulled out the phone and swore.

"She's on her way back, and she's bringing your boy, time for you to leave. She'll spot that you two know each other in a heartbeat" said Kailey Cage snorted, but quickly snuck out of the building, went to her car and moved it out of view. She texted Matti that the roommate was FBI, shoved her phone in her pocket, then helped the little old lady that had passed her walking a dachshund to untangle her dog just as Mac pulled up in front of Kailey and Zee's place.

Cage noticed right off the bat that the roommate had been correct in her assessment when Zee looked around before leading Mac into her house. The woman's paranoia was definitely going to be a problem, as was the fact that Mac was acting like she really was his girlfriend. Cage watched him disappear inside and internally swore at Mac for being so sloppy as to let himself get attached to a target.

Zee really didn't want to bring mac over to her house but saw no way to get out of it without giving herself completely away. She was silently regretting giving into her urges last night because she knew the more attached she got to the man the more likely she would either help him or be hurt when she had to leave.

Kailey was still there when they arrived and she looked like she was just getting ready for was heading for her car as Mac pulled up to the house. Zee waved to her in greeting and headed into the house, she closed the door she noticed that Kailey had paused to talk to Mac.

There were signs all around the house that she had company last night, from the taco bell bag in the trash to one of John's dirty socks shoved partially under the couch. Apparently, she wasn't the only one getting some action last night. She quickly grabbed a change of clothes from the closet and noted another set of fingerprints on the doorknob to Kailey's room. They belonged to a woman that much she could tell by the size but the hands were slightly larger than Kailey's and had a few calluses and possibly a scar on one of the fingers.


End file.
